That Edward Kid - COMPLETE
by orangeyhairedimmortal
Summary: Edward is regarded as a freak. He was kidnapped as a child and held up by a mad man, whose last experiment left him with child. Unable to speak from ten years of screaming, Edward believes he was only made to be hated. That is until a nice military man comes and offers him something he's never had: a home. Can Edward's life finally be normal? AU/mpreg!Ed, SHORT STORY
1. Chapter 1

**this is AU and i needed him to be of a lower rank so... yeah... you'll see**

* * *

The smell of hibachi was alluring as he watched the vendor mix in some vegetables, a little chicken and a little beef. He topped it off with some soy sauce and another cooking sauce and tossed the rice into the mix. He finished it up and took a large spatula and scraped it into a container. The man waiting looked about as hungry as he was and pulled out a wad of bills to pay for his meal. After counting out the cash, the vendor gave him the change and the man grabbed a fork and opened up the container, relishing in the food he had been served.

The vendor watched the man for a minute and started to clean his grill when he spotted him on the side of the stand.

"You gonna buy something kid, or not?"

Edward didn't say anything but he shook his head. The vendor looked him over and then frowned.

"Wait a minute, I know who you are. You're that Edward kid. Get out of here, you freak! You think I'm going to feel sorry for you? If you don't have the money then don't expect a handout here."

Edward didn't really expect anything from anyone. He just wanted to smell the food and imagine he was eating it. It's not like he hadn't eaten in days or anything. The vendor moved his hands.

"Shoo! Get away from here, you nuisance! You're bad for business."

Edward ducked away and walked to a bench to sit on and ease his aching back. A lady was sitting next to him for a second until she saw him and gasped a little, getting up and moving to the other bench beside his. He sighed as his stomach grumbled, used to this type of reaction but also annoyed by it. He touched the distended stomach and was met with both another growl and a soft push from the inside. He smiled and pushed back.

Edward was pregnant and all of Central knew about it. He had been regarded as a freak, humiliated in front of everyone in the center square. It wasn't like Edward wasn't a victim, that he had been kidnapped, been experimented on, been forced to scream so loud that he lost his voice. No… nothing like that had happened to him… Nothing like that happened… or you'd think so, by the way the people treated him.

He had been kidnapped when he was eight and held in a mad man named Shou Tucker's lab for years, a whole decade actually. He knew nothing of the world, of its people, of its rules. He only knew his cell and the man who ruled over him. He had been tortured and beaten and used for so many different things. This last experiment though… Tucker wanted to use his knowledge and title of the Sewing Life Alchemist to see if he could do just that, sew life into someone. Of course, Edward was the perfect guinea pig and Tucker didn't really seem to care if the giving life thing was done on a man or a woman.

Edward had grown to three months, with triplets, he was told, when the lab was discovered and he was rescued. Only… he wasn't rescued. When it was revealed that he was indeed pregnant, the doctor kicked him out of the hospital (literally) and Edward was left naked and exposed to the people of Central, who derided him, humiliated him, and some in the crowds wanted to kill him, calling him an abomination to mankind.

Edward ran away, unable to defend himself, and spent two weeks naked and cold and on the streets. He finally couldn't stand it anymore and found a way to get to the homeless shelter. The shelter wouldn't take him in but they gave him some clothing at least. The clothes were much too big for him for his small stature, but it seemed to be worth it to keep his ever growing stomach from being exposed. The black shirt and pants were perfect for hiding his five month girth, the red coat kept him halfway warm (it wasn't near thick enough) and the boots were at least waterproof, but quite large. The ensemble at least kept him mostly dry when it rained.

Someone suddenly sat beside him, scaring Edward, and he looked over at the military man. Since his case seemed to directly involve the military, when he was 'rescued' they were the ones that came. It seemed they liked to keep tabs on him.

"Edward, how many times have we told you not to loiter around people's businesses? It makes them lose customers and then they call me." The officer said in a casual tone.

Edward liked this officer. He didn't know his name but he remembered his face. He was there when he was pulled out of the laboratory, when he was thrown to the people, and was the one to get him arrested the first time he had loitered somewhere.

"Do I need to call the police again to take you into custody?"

Edward shrugged. _At least I'll get fed if I'm arrested…_ he thought to himself. He hated that he couldn't talk. He practiced all the time but his voice was gone. Ten years of screaming at the top of your lungs and crying yourself to sleep every night seemed to do that. He also didn't know how to read or write since most of his developmental years were locked in a cell. He knew letters and numbers, but that was it.

"Come on." He heard the man say.

Edward looked up in confusion as he stood up and looked at him.

"You're hungry, aren't you?" Edward nodded with a questioning look. "Let's go get some food then. When was the last time you ate?"

Edward shrugged again.

"You don't know or you won't tell me?" Edward stared. "Okay, if you know show me on your fingers and if you don't shrug again."

Edward debated this little game but held up one finger.

"One day?" Edward shook his head. "One… week?" Edward hesitated but shook his head again. "One month?" He nodded slightly and the officer seemed to get very upset. Edward put his hands protectively around his stomach and braced for impact. "You haven't eaten in a _month_!? Have you even tried?!"

The officer stopped yelling when he saw Edward was hunched over, his eyes squeezed shut, and shivering. He calmed down for a moment and knelt down to Edward, touching his hands slightly.

"Edward." Edward jerked away but he tried again. "Edward, look at me." Eventually Edward opened a golden eye as the officer looked at him kindly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I won't hurt you. I was mad about you not eating, not you."

Edward didn't really understand what the difference was but the officer stood back up and put his hand on his shoulder. Edward jumped at that but didn't shrug his hand off.

"I know this city has trampled you under their feet when you were in the lowest depths of hell and could give two damns about you. I saw you in that cell and what everyone has done to you… it's not fair. I should have done this as soon as I found you, but I didn't want to be linked in. I want to take care of you, kid."

Edward pulled away from him immediately and glared at him. He shook his head 'no' furiously, his blonde shaggy hair getting in his face.

"Why?" the officer asked.

Edward couldn't explain, of course, so he just stared at the man. _This is a joke. No one wants me or my children. I'm just a freak of nature._ he thought to himself.

"Do you want to stay out here forever? Starving half the time and being arrested the other? I'm offering you a roof over your head, a full belly, and… a home…"

 _Home?_ Edward thought. He turned his head at the officer, wondering what that word even meant. The officer seemed to understand.

"A home is a place you are welcome, a place where you feel you belong. It's a comfortable place... it's where you're loved."

Edward made a face at that. He had heard the word before, but it usually came with negative connotations. Shou Tucker _loved_ when he could get a good long and high pitched scream out of Edward. Shou Tucker _loved_ when Edward squirmed under the ropes of the metal table he was always on. Shou Tucker _loved_ to break Edward over and over again… For Edward, love was not kind.

* * *

The officer was confused over Edward's hesitation. He was offering the kid something he hadn't had since he was eight: a home. The city had brutally cast him aside, leaving him to the dregs of society and even _they_ wouldn't take the poor kid in. He'd been kidnapped, tortured, experimented on, locked in a cell, and god knows what else for ten years of his poor existence and not a soul wanted him because of an experiment a crazy man did to him. Not even his fault, but that of a crazed man. He shouldn't have let his pride get in the way those two months ago. He should have rescued Edward then, taking him in and showing him what it means to be loved and looked after… but he abandoned him, just like the rest of the city. Now he wanted to make it up but it looked like Edward had seen too many wrongs…

"Edward… I know you may not believe me. With everything you've gone through, I don't doubt your doubt. Two months of being free with the whole city against you and now, all of a sudden, this military man (who has had you arrested many times) wants to take you in? Believe me, I get how preposterous it may seem but… I'm not trying to trick you or make you a laughing stock. I sincerely want to help."

Edward put his wrists together and gave the officer questioning look.

"Why do I keep getting you arrested?" He nodded. "So I could make sure you ate something, had a roof over your head for the night, and slept soundly in a bed that was warm. In all honesty, I prayed every night that I'd be able to find you and call you in. Then you wouldn't be on the streets for at least a night."

Edward made a face and the officer sighed.

"I know it all sounds strange but I _want_ to help you… and the first thing I want to do is treat you to some food. Will you let me do that?"

Edward thought for a second and then nodded. The officer grinned and started to walk off. Edward reached out to grab him but he stopped and just waited. The man looked back and motioned for him to follow.

"Come on!"

Edward went to him slowly and he started to go again but Edward grabbed his uniform to make him stop. The officer stopped and turned to look at Edward. Edward pointed to his nametag.

"My name?" Edward nodded. "I'm Lieutenant Mustang. My first name is Roy."

 _Roy… I wonder how you spell that… It seems easy enough…_ Edward thought. Roy smiled at him.

"You got it?"

Edward smiled and then pointed at his badge again, but at the R.

"That's an R…" Edward nodded and then pointed at him again. "Are you wanting to know how I spell it?" He nodded enthusiastically. Roy laughed a little. "I'll teach you at the restaurant, alright?"

Edward beamed and followed Roy.

* * *

 **ah a beautiful friendship... hopefully. and yes, this is an mpreg. this will also be a short story so yeah... and edward is mute in this if you couldn't tell.**


	2. Chapter 2

**so i have no idea what crete's atmosphere is like so i gave it a kind of italian/Mediterranean vibe. i figure if xing can be china, why not crete be that? besides, there is an island with that name so...**

* * *

Roy had had a car nearby and took Edward in it so that he didn't have to walk all the way to a place to eat. He thought that would be pretty cruel on the heavily pregnant teen. As they rolled up to the restaurant, Edward was completely enthralled with the place. It was a Cretean restaurant and had terraces laced with fake grape vines with grapes hanging off of them, ivy plants climbing the building, and little nuances to show the Cretean style. Edward was so excited and grinned wide at Roy, who was watching him from the other side of the car. Edward pointed enthusiastically at the grapes hanging from the vines.

"Yeah, those are grapes. You never been to a Cretean restaurant before?"

Edward shook his head and Roy smiled, closing the door.

Roy headed inside and went up the three stairs that led into the restaurant but Edward stopped at the bottom. He didn't feel right going inside. He hadn't been able to go into a lot of buildings ever since he was rescued. He had tried many times, if only to get out of the cold, but no one would let him in. He remembered vaguely when his parents (or what he thought were parents) had taken him to wonderful city full of shiny arms and legs. He didn't know what it was called but he remembered the people there were so friendly and waved at him, making him feel welcome. There weren't a lot of buildings but the tents seemed to serve as them. He remembered his parents buying shoes for him and shorts and shirts… He even remembered a booth that was full of nothing but toys and the man on the other side let him come around the see them all. He liked toys…

"Edward?" He looked up as Roy looked at him. "You okay?"

Edward looked behind him at the restaurant and then back at him. Roy looked at the restaurant too.

"You don't want to go here?" Edward shook his head. "Then what is it?"

Edward looked at himself and rested his hand gently on his stomach. Roy nodded, actually having forgotten that the kid was part of a gross experiment and was holding life within himself. The whole reason the city hated him and despised him.

"I'll protect you." Edward gave him a questioning look and Roy motioned for him to come with him. "Being in the military has its perks. Come on, Ed."

 _Ed? What's an Ed?_ Edward thought as he slowly made his way up the stairs.

* * *

They walked into the restaurant and the hostess smiled at Roy but then gasped at Edward. Edward hid behind Roy as the hostess looked at Roy with confusion and then at Edward.

"Um…"

Roy pulled a silver pocket watch out. "How about you act like you never saw him and act normal?"

"S-S-Sure, yeah…"

"Two please."

She nodded and took them to a booth, putting the menus down. She made a face at Edward but he didn't see it because he was looking at his lap. Once the girl left, Edward looked up and saw Roy holding the menu in front of him. Edward hadn't been to a restaurant before so he picked his menu up like Roy was doing and held it up. There were lots of letters and numbers but he had no idea what they meant. A voice scared him and he jumped, making the waitress jump as well.

"Oh, sugar, you scared me!" she said, putting her hand over her heart. "I didn't mean to scare you either, honey. What would you like to drink?"

Edward shrugged and looked at Roy for help.

"I'll have a pint of whatever you got and… give him some juice."

"What type of juice?"

Roy looked at Edward for a second, trying to figure out what he might like. He smiled and looked up at her.

"Cranberry juice I think will do nicely."

She left and Roy watched Edward as he held up the menu again. He wondered what type of mentality Edward had in regards to basic things. It seemed he recognized letters but most likely didn't know how to read or write. _Poor kid probably can't even spell his own name…_ the man thought.

"Do you know what pasta is?" he asked.

Edward peeked over the menu and shook his head. Roy smiled and reached over to push the menu down.

"Not to be a jerk, but if you can't read, then you don't have to hold up the menu."

Edward looked away, embarrassed, and shut the menu. A small kick came from within him and he put his hand on his stomach, massaging the section where a foot most likely was protruding. He wasn't very comfortable at this table or the restaurant and the people. Eventually, someone would recognize him like the hostess had and do something do him. Not even Roy being a military officer would be able to do anything because Edward knew that if he got involved with him, he could lose his job. The waitress came back and gave them their drinks and took their orders.

Edward eyed the bright red liquid in front of him, the white straw standing out starkly from the liquid. It looked like fresh blood. _What kind of person does he think I am?! What is this, **blood**?_

"Why are you looking at that so angrily?" Roy said with a small laugh. Edward looked at him and Roy frowned. "Have you never had cranberry juice?" Edward shook his head no. "I think you'll like it. It's a tad tart but it's good." Edward didn't want to be rude and so he pulled the juice closer to him. "Careful now, it's sour."

Edward nodded and did what Roy was doing and put his mouth on the top of the straw. Nothing happened. He frowned and watched Roy again, noticing he was sucking on the straw. He did his mouth the same way and ended up with a mouthful of the strangest liquid he'd ever tasted. At first it was a sweet taste and then out of the blue, in the back of his tongue, a cringing sourness made him pucker and he shivered, almost knocking the drink over.

"Whoa! Hey, watch out now!"

Edward turned away from him, putting his hands protectively over his belly.

"What was that for?"

Edward pointed accusingly at the juice and Roy sighed.

"I told you it was sour. I figured you'd like to try something a little new than sweet juice like grape juice. I wasn't trying to trick you though… I wouldn't give you something bad, Edward. Here, look." He pulled the drink over and took a sip out of it. He made the same face Edward had and pushed it back. "Man, that's pretty sour today…"

Edward doubted that he wouldn't try and trick him but it seemed not to be hurting the officer at the moment and so he calmed down a little, bracing himself as he took another slower sip of juice. Once he got the taste of it, he liked it a lot. The waitress brought a basket of bread and Edward watched the basket like a hawk. There was a whole thing full of bread and he was going to have it. Once Roy wasn't looking, Edward was going to grab it and keep it hidden beside him. He'd save some of the bread for later so he could snack on it.

Roy was talking to the waitress for a second when he saw out of the corner of his eye the bread basket leave the table.

"And some more bread." He added before she turned to leave.

The waitress looked down and blinked at the missing bread basket and shook her head, agreeing. Roy looked at Edward as he tried to look inconspicuous.

"Edward, I know you have the bread basket."

Edward looked away and Roy smiled.

"It's alright. You can have all that bread to yourself. She's bringing me another one."

Edward made a face and looked at the piece of bread in his dirty hands. _You can get more bread if you just… **ask**?_ he thought, completely flabbergasted at the thought. He looked at Roy and hit the bread basket on the table with a confused look.

"What are you trying to say?"

Edward hit it harder and Roy reached out to stop him. Coming so quick at him, Edward dropped the basket completely and pushed as far back into the seat as he could. Roy sighed.

"I told you that I wasn't going to hurt you. I know everyone looks down on you and you've been hurt before but I'm not going to. Alright?"

Edward nodded slightly and tried to relax.

"Are you trying to ask about the bread?" Edward nodded. "Yes, the bread is free. They'll give us more if we ask."

Edward sat back again but this time in shock. He'd been trying to get food for a month and weeks before that and no one would even throw him a scrap, but he could have just walked into a building that sold food and gotten bread for _free_? He frowned and hit the basket.

"What's wrong?"

Edward touched his stomach and then pointed at the bread.

"Well, it's yours so you can eat as much as you like. Like I said, I'm getting another-" Edward shook his head quickly. "Then what is it?"

Edward sighed and pointed out the door, then to the bread, and then his stomach. He looked around and hoped Roy was able to follow what he was saying. _I wish I could talk… or write…_

"Are you… mad because you've been out there and the bread has been in here and you needed food?"

Edward shrugged. It was close enough. Roy leaned in a little.

"Let me tell you something about people, Ed: they're douchebags. Assholes, butt wipes, whatever mean thing you can say about them, that's what they are. You don't make them money, so what use are you? That's what they want you to think. Don't worry though, you won't have to worry about that anymore." Edward turned his head. "You're gonna come with me."

* * *

 _"Your mommy sent me to come and get you because she's got a new puppy she wants you to see. Would you like that? A new puppy?"_

 _"A puppy?!"_

 _"Yeah, sure thing. Come on, I'll take you to her." He said, holding out his hand._

 _He took his hand and walked towards a black car. He didn't see his mother there…_

 _"Where's Mommy?"_

 _"Oh, she's in the car. We don't want the puppy to escape now, do we?" He shook his head. "Good. Now, hop on in." he said, opening the door._

 _He climbed in the back of the car. He heard no sounds of dogs or whimperings of puppies… and his mother wasn't there either._

 _"Mommy?" he asked in fear._

 _"Your mommy's not here. You're gonna come with me."_

* * *

Edward shot up and stumbled out of the booth, backing away from Roy.

"Edward?"

"Edward? As in that freak with the belly Edward?" another diner said.

Edward looked around as the other people in the restaurant began to look at him, all suddenly aware of him.

"Hey, that _is_ him! It's that Edward kid! Get out of here, you freak! Take your heathen spawn back to hell where you came from!"

"Yeah, we don't want to see your disgusting body around us!"

"You're a disgrace to humanity. An abomination."

"Get out here!" someone yelled, throwing their cup at him.

Edward ducked and started backing out when he backed into the waitress, dropping all of the food she was holding.

"What's your problem?!" she yelled as Edward turned around to see what he had hit and she gasped, pointing. "You're- you're that monster! You saw what he did! He assaulted me!"

Edward looked around fearfully, trying to find a way out. He had nowhere to run! They wouldn't let him leave. The diners had stopped eating now and were all gathered around him. Edward thought he saw Roy trying to break through the crowds but he wasn't able to get through. Someone grabbed Edward's hood and pulled him, making him fall backwards. They yanked it off and then pulled at his shirt, which after much protest from Edward's arms, they exposed him and his stomach. He didn't understand why if they hated him so much, why did they want to expose him so much?

"Look at that mass!" someone yelled, pointing and laughing. "Gonna lay an egg, little chicken?"

"We should do something about it that bun in the oven there, kid. I think it's long over cooked." Someone said, opening a switchblade.

Edward's eyes widened and he began to try and fight to get out of the restaurant. He had to protect his children, no matter what. Fight or flight took over and since he was never taught to fight, flight was his only option. He felt someone grab him by the shoulder and pull him back from the ring. He landed on someone's chest as the switchblade touched his neck.

"You sicken me, you disgusting monster! People like you shouldn't be allowed to live on. You think we should feel sorry for you just because you were kidnapped? Ha! Like we could believe you didn't just let that crazy alchemist do whatever he wanted to you. You just _let_ him and now look at you? A disgusting abomination… and you let all of the city see you! Flaunting it like you were proud…"

"Hey! Put that knife down!" Edward heard Roy yell.

The man let go of Edward and he tried to get his hood, but someone had a hold of it and was pulling it away. Edward didn't care anymore now and turned tail to run when he felt something fly into the side of his head and he felt himself lean, cracking his head on the doorway of the restaurant.

* * *

 **ah the lovely townsfolk. coming together and welcoming those who are different... not. damn people.**

 **and wtf about the bread, right? i'd be saying the same thing that edward did. it's like i've been starving and i could have just sat down in a chair and got free breads?!**


	3. Chapter 3

**i figured they can still order stuff over the phone but instead of being delivered by car, it was on bikes in a basket or something. and bento boxes are usually 1, 2, 3 tiered. figured that one tier would have rice, then sushi, then veggies or meats. whatevs...**

* * *

"…rd… …ard… …ward… Edward… Edward, can you hear me? Edward… Wake up, kid…"

Edward opened his eyes a little, swimming through darkness, and finding himself face to face with Roy. He was still woozy and felt off kilter.

"You alright? You hit that wall pretty hard." He heard him ask.

"Do you think we need to take him to the hospital?" he heard another person say.

Edward turned swiftly at the new voice, but he only hurt his head and he felt his eyes begin to roll as he lifted his heavy hand to his forehead.

"Slow down, kid… Can you see me clearly?" Edward nodded a little. "Got any nausea or hearing problems?"

Edward shook his head no, although he did have a huge knot on his head. He looked around and could tell he was no longer at the restaurant and that he wasn't at the hospital. No one would care for him even if they _had_ taken him to the hospital. His eyes finally settled on another man, a little bit older than Roy and sporting a stubbly beard, that sitting next to Roy at the table. Edward made a face and looked back at Roy, moving his eyes to insinuate he wanted to know what the other guy was doing there.

"Oh, this is Lieutenant Maes Hughes, a friend of mine at headquarters."

Maes gave a small wave and Edward waved back shyly.

"Don't worry, he won't hurt you. He feels strongly about you as much as I do. He was there with me all the other times as well."

Edward nodded a little and then looked around, confused.

"Oh, this is my house. I live in some military apartments close to headquarters… it's… never mind, you don't know what I'm talking about." He said with a small laugh. "Anyway, you're safe here."

Edward turned his head at the word. _Safe? What is safe?_ he thought. Maes got up and brushed off his blue uniform.

"Well, if everything is in order, I'll go ahead and send the report over to the police so they can apprehend the starter of the brawl. Should I let your superior know what happened? Does Colonel Hawkeye have our same views?"

"Yeah. She wished she could have done something about it too. I think she'll be happy to know he's safe. I'll be back in tomorrow, I just need to take care of him first."

"Sure thing. I'll let her know."

Edward realized then that Roy had gotten hurt, a large bruise forming on the side of his pale face.

"You know the Fuhrer's not going to like that you keep getting involved with civilian affairs."

"Well I can't help that all I was doing was trying to help a poor kid out by buying him some food so he could, I don't know, _eat_ and our bat-shit crazy city went ballistic over a kid. I don't understand these Amestrians sometimes…"

"We play alchemists up highly in the military and they are regarded as heroes, so having one do unspeakable things to someone seems like something these people can't comprehend. They seem like they are rectifying the 'slander' of alchemists by blaming Edward or something."

"Because a harmless child getting kidnapped is cause for unorthodox experimentation? He's barely a teen and can't talk. Why the hell would he ask Tucker to do weird crap to him?"

"I'm just making a speculation. Anyway, I have to get going but I'll check back with you soon. I'm sure Hawkeye will call you in regards to this."

Roy waved his friend off and then looked at Edward.

"That man is sometimes a godsend. He's always been there for me… he helped get you out of that brawl and has connections with the police department so he can get some influence in there."

Edward nodded, understanding. "I'm really sorry about what happened at the restaurant. That wasn't supposed to happen."

Edward reached up and touched Roy's bruise.

"Oh that? Yeah, it's just where I got elbowed trying to get to you. You're pretty beaten up too, though."

Edward looked at his arms and could feel his cheek was a little swollen. He shrugged; there was nothing he could do at the moment since it was in the past. Roy touched Edward's bruise and tisked.

"I'm so sorry that that happened. I was hoping to just go and have a nice lunch with you."

Edward pointed at himself and Roy shook his head.

"It's not your fault. None of this is your fault in the slightest. You didn't ask to be kidnapped and you didn't ask to be experimented on. That crazy man did this and you were caught in the crossfire. I want you to feel safe and without fear… I want you to feel loved."

Edward turned his head a little and Roy smiled. He looked at Edward's stomach and then back at Edward.

"May I… may I feel?"

Edward was a little alarmed at the question and quickly shook his head. Roy seemed surprised and threw his hands up in surrender.

"I'm sorry! Sorry! I didn't know it was a sensitive subject."

Edward was embarrassed and turned away. He hadn't meant to react the way he did but no one, not even the doctors, had wanted to touch his stomach. He was afraid Roy would hurt him. _But he hasn't so far… all he's done is protect me…_ Edward slowly reached out to Roy and grabbed his hand, pulling it to his stomach. He let it settle on the mass of flesh and Roy looked at him in amazement.

"Whoa…" Edward looked away, thoroughly embarrassed. "That's amazing… How many are in there? You look really far along." Edward held up three fingers. " _Three_?! Jesus, why that many?!" Edward shrugged. "Well… I wish I knew a doctor that would be nice enough to take a look at you, but you and I both know that's not going to happen… I hope they're all alright."

He moved his hand and Edward let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Roy stood up and went to the phone. He waited for a second and then started talking. Edward looked around the nice apartment, taking in the plain white walls with minimal pictures. They had some landscapes on them that seemed to make the walls less bare. The couch, coffee table, end tables, and accompanying chair were nothing alike and didn't match whatsoever. The couch was black, the end tables were faded light wood with glass stains, the chair had seen better days and was a rust color. It wasn't fancy but it seemed to suite Roy…

"Edward, what would you like in your bento?" he heard Roy ask.

Edward looked at him with a bewildered expression and Roy blinked. Edward turned his head.

"I said what would you like in your bento? Do you have a preference? Do you… know what gets put in a bento?... Do you even know what a bento _is_?" he trailed, realizing that Edward probably had never had the luxury of getting a bento, since the place he usually got them from was three tiered and Edward hadn't eaten in a month.

Edward did know what a bento was but the prospect ever having one was a dream he thought would never come true. He knew rice came with it and some sushi, sometimes vegetables or meat. He didn't know what he wanted since when he had seen the vendors make them, it all smelled so good. He didn't know what Roy would even let him have.

"Hold on one minute please, my son has a speech disability and can't talk." He grumbled over the phone.

"Well we have to pay three extra cent for every minute over three minutes so make it quick, sir." The man on the other end said.

"How about you hold on for a damned moment, _I'm_ paying _you_."

Roy set the receiver down and found a piece of paper. He began to draw pictures and then went back over to Edward.

"Okay, point to what you want, alright?"

Edward was still reeling over the fact that Roy had told the man over the phone that he was his son. He would put that away as he looked at the piece of paper. He circled the things he wanted and Roy looked at it. He chuckled a little.

"Understandable…" he said, although Edward didn't really know what he meant by that.

He finished ordering and then hung up the phone.

"I hope he's not the guy delivering or I'll just knock him off his bike… Have you ever even eaten anything that you circled?" Edward shook his head no. Roy frowned. "Then how did you know what you wanted?"

Edward shrugged and motioned to his eyes and pointing.

"Oh, you've seen it and it looked good." Edward nodded. "Understandable. Well, you picked some great choices. Besides, you got some meats in there so you can feel a little fuller than you usually would. I got three since you haven't eaten in so long, one with veggies and the other with meats and one for me of course. I figured you could have a choice and pick at the other, or eat them both. Three kids can really sap the energy right out of ya."

Edward nodded and sat up, moving his legs from the length of the couch to sit properly. He wanted to ask Roy what possessed him to tell that man that he was his son but he didn't know how to get it across to him. He wished he could just talk! He licked his lips and tried to make a word but it only came out as a squeak of some sort… although it did get Roy's attention from the kitchen.

"You make a noise?" Edward nodded. "You alright? Did you need something?" Edward nodded. "What is it?"

Edward sighed and tried to figure out how to ask his question. _Damn it, I wish I could write!_ he growled in his head. He then had an idea. _Wait, I can draw!_ He motioned for a pen and Roy found a notepad for him to write on. He drew a picture and then used it to try and communicate what he was wanting to say. He pointed to the big stick figure and then at Roy and then the little stick figure with the circle stomach and then himself.

"That's me and that's you?" Edward nodded. "Okay… and you're pointing to your stomach…" Roy watched him as he pointed to him, then his stomach, then himself, then back at him. "I… don't get it."

Edward huffed and pointed at his real stomach. "Pregnant…" Edward shook his head and emphasized the pointing. "Baby?" Edward motioned for more details. "A girl… a boy?" Edward nodded. "Okay, a boy baby." He pointed to himself. "That would be your son." Edward nodded again and then pointed at his stomach again, himself, and then Roy. "Are you asking why I called you my son?"

Edward nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh, well why not? You don't have parents that you know of, do you?"

Edward shook his head and then shrugged. He wasn't sure.

"Then what's the harm in it? I mean, unless that's going a bit far. I don't want you to be uncomfortable." Edward shook his head and his hands to indicate he was okay with it. "I mean, if you're alright with it, I don't mind calling you my son. You're just a kid and you haven't been treated with kindness in a long time, have you?" Edward shook his head. "I don't mind if you don't."

Edward smiled and Roy smiled back.

"It's good to see you smiling. Now, I think I remember telling you I'd teach you how to read and write, didn't I?"

Edward smiled brighter, happy to be able to learn something and be able to communicate.

* * *

A couple weeks later there was a knock at the door and Roy got up, opening it. Maes was there and smiled, holding up a box.

"Gracia told me to bring leftovers."

"Thanks. Come on in."

Maes walked in and sat the box on the counter, taking things out of it.

"How was your date the other night?" Roy asked.

"It was good. I took her to a nice outdoor café and we had some coffee, talked for a bit. She insisted that I came over last night and cooked this huge feast. I told her that I'd like to bring the leftovers and she was happy to oblige. She even made you a fresh apple pie." He said, taking said pie out.

Maes felt something tug at his shirt and he turned around to see Edward.

"Hey, Edward." He beamed and held out a paper to him. "What's this?"

He took it and flipped it over, finding a crude drawing of the three of them labeled with childish handwriting.

"Thanks, kid."

Edward smiled wider and he bustled off to the table where he had been drawing.

Maes turned to Roy, who was opening the food up.

"Hey, have you taken him to get checked?"

"Checked for what?"

"Mental disabilities."

"You mean because he draws pictures and likes to give them out like a child?" Roy growled, glaring at his friend.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way, Roy. Seriously, he's a great kid; I just meant so we can at least see what level he's on and work with him."

"He's smart, actually. Very smart. We only started this a week ago when that fiasco at the restaurant happened and he's been writing letters to me for half the week. I think his mental capacity is fine, he's just a little slow on the social curve. I mean he understands us just fine when we talk to him, I just don't think he knew how to spell them out and he was in a secret lab being tortured for ten years, so I think he has a pass for being socially behind."

"I guess that makes sense." Maes looked out at Edward as he drew at the table. "What about the uh, you know…" he said, motioning to his stomach.

"What do you mean?"

"How will they come out? I mean, will he birth them, will we have to cut them out… explode?"

"Really?"

"I'm not being funny."

"I don't know, in all honesty. Maybe Edward knows how they're supposed to come out. All I care about is that he's safe until they are born and then we can go from there. The kid can't express himself like he wants to and the city is… nothing to write home about. He can't function in society. Ever, I don't think."

"I'll agree with you on that. Even after he's had them, everyone will still know him and take advantage of his speech problem. I think the doctors said trauma, right?"

"That and from what Edward's been able to piece together for me, he did a lot of screaming and such."

"I can't even imagine…"

Roy shook his head a little. "I can't either. But he's safe, he's here, and nothing will happen to him as long as I'm around. I'll make sure of that… although…"

"What?"

"I know this is a bit dark and will probably jinx me to high heaven, but our line of work is a gamble on our lives… If something happens in the line of duty, will you take him in?"

"That _is_ a jinx but of course I will. He's grown on me and I think Gracia will like him too. She likes to hear his status."

Roy nodded and picked up the two plates. He walked into the dining room and Edward looked up, turning his head at the food.

"Maes' girlfriend made some food for us. There's even a pie for afterword." Edward turned his head again. "Gracia's a really good cook. I know you'll like it."

Edward wrote on the paper and held it up.

 **IS HOT?**

"You mean spicy hot or hot hot?" Edward pointed to his tongue. "Oh, spicy. Uh… depends, but I think this is pretty mild. It's not like the chili we had the other day. I promise you'll like it."

Edward nodded and put his fork in the rice as Maes came out and sat at the table with them. Edward scooted a piece of paper to him and Maes picked it up.

 **YOU VERY NICE. I HAPPY. I LIKE MAES. 3  
**

"I like you too, kid. Have you ever listened to a radio drama?" Edward shook his head. "There's a really good one coming on later tonight. They're very fun and makes you use your imagination. Would you like that?"

Edward nodded and Roy made a face.

"What _kind_ of radio drama? Nothing scary, right?" Roy asked with a look at his friend.

"It's just the one about dead people coming back to life." Roy made a face at him. "I'm kidding… It's the one about the kid who almost lost his brother but sealed him to a suit of armor and their travels on getting their bodies back. It's really interesting. Alchemy and homunculus…"

Roy looked at Edward. "Does that sound fun to you?" Edward nodded. "Alright then, we'll listen to it after dinner."

* * *

 **since this is an AU, i figure that if roy is a lieutenant then hawkeye can be his superior? hehe. and of course maes is dating gracia. and since this is an AU that radio drama seems highly interesting, doesn't it? in case anyone didn't catch on, alphonse is not anywhere near this story**


	4. Chapter 4

**all who thought what they thought... all have to say is you don't know me so well... hehe he... oh...**

* * *

As the months went by, Edward was learning what it meant to be loved and cared for, given attention and being taught the goods and bads of the world. Roy cared for him as if he were his own son, even telling people he was at times. Edward had never been happier and never felt more safe. He was actually finally able to understand what that word meant. He was able to communicate much easier now since Roy and Maes taught him out to read and write, and he was also able to make differentiating sounds that indicated what he wanted. It had been very hard for him to get his throat to cooperate but after much practice, he could finally get out basic noises like 'uh huh' 'uh uh' 'hmm' 'mmm' 'mmm hmm' and so forth. These basic noises, though taken for granted by most everyone else, meant the world to Edward. Being able to communicate, f _inally_ , was the best thing he'd been taught. Roy told him that with a lot of diligence and practice, they might be able to get Edward's voice back.

Edward was excited about that the most. Being able to voice his opinions with an actual 'yes' or 'no' was something he hadn't been able to do since he had been taken. Eight years he'd been silent and now he'd finally get the chance to maybe get his voice back. He wondered what it sounded like…

* * *

Edward ate his breakfast at the table as Roy looked over some files on the other side of table. Edward pushed his food away and Roy looked up as he rubbed his stomach a little.

"You alright?"

"Mmm hmm…" Edward said, although he didn't look alright.

Roy put the paper down and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Tell the truth. You look like you're in a lot of pain."

Edward didn't say anything, just sucked up the pain that was radiating through him. He'd endured things harsher than whatever was happening and so if he just kept it to himself, he wouldn't have to worry Roy. He just smiled at him, but his guardian made a face, not buying that he was alright.

"I know you're hiding something from me. It's sad that whatever happened to you makes it so that you don't even squeak… or whatever you do when you're in pain… He did a lot of bad things to you, didn't he?"

Edward nodded, not wanting to talk about it. The only downside with living with Roy was that since he was a soldier, he had a habit of trying to interrogate Edward. Edward understood he just wanted to help and get to the root of everything, the whys and whats of it all, but all it did was make Edward have flashbacks and cause problems. He had actually eased up a lot. They were at a good crossroads where Roy would still try to pick Edward's brain but knew when to stop now. This was one of those times.

"I won't hound you but if you're in pain, you don't have to hide it. Since you can't just come out and say 'ow, I'm in pain', I need to know, alright? You don't have to suffer in silence anymore."

Edward nodded as the pain subsided.

Roy looked at the clock and cursed.

"Shit, I'll be late for work. Are you going to go out today?"

Edward shrugged and grabbed his paper beside him.

 **I might walk in the park.** he wrote.

"Just be careful out there. There's been an influx of attacks around the area, being so close to Central command and the Fuhrer and all. I won't keep you inside but just be cautious. I don't need anything happening to you _again_."

Edward frowned at that. _Like it was my fault the first time…_ he said in his head. He just nodded and Roy smiled, touching his head.

"I'll be back at my normal time, hopefully. We might be able to catch the rest of that radio drama; hear it for ourselves instead of having Maes fill us in on it."

"Uh huh!" Edward said brightly.

Roy smiled as he looked at Edward for a second. He looked at the poor boy's gravid stomach and tried to hold back a grimace. It wasn't even about the fact that there were children in there, it just looked really painful with three living people inside of him. He didn't understand how women did it in general, but a kid? He shook his head and put his hand on Edward's stomach.

"Be careful with these guys, alright? You should be pretty close to being due and I have no idea how to get them out. If you need to go to the hospital, you call me right away, okay? You remember the noise we practiced?"

"Oy… Ang…" Edward said, straining to make it.

"Right. I'll remind the switchboard operator about that so that she sends you to the right place. Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

Edward gave the OK signal as Roy watched him for a moment. He felt something odd settle in the back of his mind. He didn't know what it was but he found himself hugging Edward tightly.

Edward hugged Roy back, confused. Roy was not an affectionate man, but he did show his love in other ways, mostly by rustling his hair. This was different and Edward didn't understand. Roy pulled away and touched his face.

"I don't know why I did that… It's like… I have this weird feeling in the back of my head. You know how you just know something is about to happen?" Edward nodded. "That's the feeling I'm getting… either way. I'll be back."

Edward nodded as Roy left.

* * *

The pain shot through him again, but Edward ignored it as he walked down the street towards the park later that day. Roy had found a way to get a hold of one of his friend's training shirts since he was quite a large guy, and gave it to Edward so he would have a better diversity of wardrobe. He still got dirty stares but people were realizing that he belonged to someone in the military and stopped harassing him too much. Besides, he didn't mess with the people and that's all they really seemed to care about.

As he walked along, a military car suddenly came by with a police care behind it, its siren wailing. Edward was used to that so he didn't take much of that into account.

Then another car came by.

Then another.

And another.

Then a couple of firetrucks and a few more military vehicles.

Everyone else seemed pretty suspicious about the sudden collaboration of law enforcement and military vehicles and began to follow the cars to see what was going on. Edward followed suit, trying to stay back but see what was happening. He couldn't really keep up with everyone and happened to pass by a restaurant that had its door open and the news blaring from the radio. Edward slipped in and leaned on the doorframe, clutching under his stomach and listening to the person on the radio, who sounded quite frantic.

"It looks like the terrorists were able to get inside of the courtyard and set off a bomb. Military personnel , police officers and emergency aids are rushing in to help get everyone away from the front of the- OH MY GOD ANOTHER BOMB'S GONE OFF INSIDE!" he screamed as Edward heard the sound of the bomb go off behind him.

Edward gathered his strength and turned to where he heard the explosion and his eyes widened as he saw that it was Central Headquarters. He began to walk as fast as he could towards the military base.

* * *

Once he finally got to the building, there were barricades and lots of people around but he pushed through them to get to the entrance of the military headquarters. Luckily, he was so disgusted by many that they just parted ways and he made an easy path towards the front of the base. There was smoke billowing out of the doors and people being brought out on stretchers and walking, their faces covered, people yelling. He looked all around, trying to find someone who looked familiar. Roy had brought over some of his friends to introduce to Edward and he knew that a couple of them had blonde hair, his superior being one of them. He swept the crowds of people, trying to find someone he recognized.

He turned around when someone ran into him and he fell on the ground. He caught himself before he landed, hurting his hand but saving his belly. He felt a horrid pain in him and he actually did squeak, the surprise overtaking him. The man just looked at him in disgust as he ran to the other side of the courtyard. Edward shakily got up –with no one's help- and paced himself to look around. He finally spotted a flash of blonde hair and looked over in the corner where a couple people were sitting around a woman. He waddled over to them and recognized the woman as Roy's superior. She was coughing and looked up, blinking at Edward.

"Edward?"

One of the other soldiers looked over and stood up, walking to him.

"Edward, what are you doing here, kid?" the younger man said. "You can't be here. We just got attacked."

Edward looked behind him, looking for Roy.

"Havoc, he's looking for Mustang." she said.

Edward looked around him to Hawkeye. Havoc moved as he walked over to her slowly and she stood up to go to him.

"Sweetheart, I don't know where he is." Edward's eyes widened. "He… he came inside to help us when the second bomb went off. A crazy alchemist came in here and started blowing things up. We tried to get him to come back but…"

Edward looked at the burning building as smoke still billowed out.

"If you stay here with us," the younger of the soldiers said, making Edward turn to him. "They will find him and send him to us."

Edward didn't want to wait but he had to find Roy.

* * *

After what seemed like hours, the smoke seemed to clear and the last of the people trickled out. Roy nor Maes had come out and Edward was beginning to panic. Not only was the pain in his stomach radiating through him, but the lump in his throat was getting bigger and harder. When it seemed everyone was out, Edward looked at Hawkeye and her crew and she looked at him in confusion as well. He turned and started up the stairs.

"Edward!"

He pushed himself up the stairs, looking around to find the other set that went up to the higher levels. _His office… it was on the second floor…_ he thought, trying to find stairs when he heard a door open. He turned and was surprised to find Maes, his face smudged with dirt and sweat and blood… more blood than the other. Upon seeing Edward, his eyes widened behind cracked glasses.

"Edward?"

Edward watched him for a moment and realized he had something over his shoulder. His eyes flicked to it and then back to Maes, who was coming closer.

"Oh, Edward, you shouldn't be here…"

Edward looked at the large thing he was carrying and back at him.

"Turn around, Ed. Go back outside."

"Oy…" he said, his throat dry.

"Turn around, Edward." Maes said more sternly. "Go back outside."

Edward turned around stiffly but walked out.

Once they were out, Hawkeye stood up and looked at Maes.

"Did you see him? Where did he go?"

Maes didn't say anything, just followed Edward down the stairs. As soon as they were on the grass, Edward turned just as Maes set what he was carrying down. Hawkeye gasped as Edward began to walk backwards, shaking his head.

"He tried to apprehend the alchemist and he got him but… not before he got Roy."

Edward was staring at Roy's lifeless eyes, the black eyes devoid of shine. There was blood all over his face and body, all over Maes and a knife in his throat.

"He threw the knife just as Roy sent out a stream of fire and there was no way to avoid it. I was there and… I tried but…"

Another pain gripped Edward in his chest as he put his hand over his heart, grabbing it.

Roy, the man who saved him, who loved and cared for him, the only father he knew… he was gone…

Edward felt a rush of air from deep within his lungs escape and he didn't realize he was screaming until he fell to his knees, holding his head and staring at the ground. His body could only make that noise of its own free will. It could only scream. Maes started to walk over to him.

"Edward-"

Upon hearing his name, he looked up at him and everything just shattered.

 _Run._ his broken mind told him.

In the midst of the first horrific tragedy he had ever encountered, his mind went into default and he ran away, running with all his might and power. He didn't care about children, he didn't care about Maes, he didn't care about himself. He didn't hear anyone calling his name, for him to stop, avoiding people in his race to get away from the tragedy. All he wanted to do was get away from the horrors and realization that his world had come crashing down once more.

Roy was gone and no one could protect him anymore. He had to get away from the people… he had to disappear.

* * *

 **told you you guys underestimated this. this isn't over, by the by. but yeah, roy died a horrible death... what will become of poor edward now?**


	5. Chapter 5

**this is very short but quite powerful**

* * *

Edward ran and ran, not knowing where he was going or caring where he ended up. He couldn't take this world anymore and he was in so much pain. Not only from his heart breaking but the deep pain in his stomach was becoming too much to bear. He leaned against a tree and put his hand over his stomach, trying to ease the pain. He was crying so hard that he didn't even have the strength to pull away, he just sank to the ground to his knees. As he hit the ground, it was as if a rushing waterfall exploded and he felt wetness come out from below him. He immediately stopped crying and looked down in complete shock. He didn't know what was happening when the pains started again and he leaned over to his hands and knees, gripping the ground hard. He hissed, trying to take the pain. He had gone through so much more than this when he was captured and he was fine. Another pain ripped through him and a muted yelp tried escape, but was only accompanied by more pain.

It suddenly dawned on him what was happening to him and he looked around in fear. He had no idea what to do. Shou Tucker didn't tell him how he was supposed to deliver! _My luck will just like Maes said and I **will** explode!_ he yelled in his head, trying to stand back up to at least get to a more comfortable spot. Not that there was a comfortable spot in the middle of winter or in the process of giving birth when there could or could not be a way out other than to burst through his stomach.

Edward decided on a small length of grass at the edge of the park and went behind the bushes that was next to a bench. He walked slowly, trying not to jar his stomach and cause anymore pain, and finally got to the back of the bench. He felt it coming then, the urge to push. He tried to hold it in (which he knew was impossible) and grabbed a hold of the back of the bench. He shakily unlatched his pants and let them drop along with his underwear and grabbed hold of the bench with his other hand, the urge to push hitting him like a ton of bricks. He squatted and pushed as hard as he could. He could feel a child drop into place, but he didn't push hard enough and the baby stopped coming. The pain was intensified by thirty as the contractions began to get closer and closer, the urge to push faster and faster.

He eventually made it to the ground, where he laid with his back against the back of the bench and slid his fingers through the gap between the back and the seat of the bench. He braced his heels into the dirt and breathed heavily, waiting for the next urge to push to come. He knew this one was going to be the make or break of his body in the literal sense. He truly had no idea what was going to happen, where the children were going to come, and how it was going to be done. Edward decided that if he died, he would be happy with that. At least he wouldn't be in a world of horrible people anymore and if Roy was gone, no one would miss him.

 _No one would miss a little creepy kid like me… a kid who got himself into this situation… It's better this way…_

The urge to push came and he tightened his grip on the bench, giving in to the notion.

* * *

Edward was exhausted and half dead. He didn't explode (to his chagrin) but he knew that the children were out of him. How, he wasn't sure, but they were out. The problem was that he didn't hear any crying. He couldn't think straight anyway, so he wasn't sure if it was just him or if the children were dead…

Trying to gain some sort of semblance of the situation, Edward willed his fingers to unpry themselves from the back of the bench and he put his hands on the ground to push himself up. He leaned forward and looked down. His eyesight was getting a bit fuzzy but he shook his head and looked at the three tiny bodies in a slight heap between his legs. He put his hand on the chest of one of them and waited.

No heartbeat.

Edward breathed in and slowly picked it up, setting it aside. He did the same with the next one and the same thing happened. Tears were pouring down his face as he reached for the last child. _I've failed! I can't even harbor a child the way I'm supposed to! I should have never been born myself!_ he thought as he silently cried, touching the chest of the last child. This time, though, he felt the tiniest of flutters. He sniffled and felt again. He _wasn't_ dreaming! It was the faintest of heartbeats!

Edward gathered the child up and closed his legs, setting it on them and bent down, giving the baby two deep breaths and then doing a small compression on the chest. That small bit of influence seemed to cue the baby to breathe and a glorious cry let out. Edward wanted to cry out as well but he was still in rough shape. He reached over to the other two but realized that they were beyond saving, their bodies blue from asphyxiation. He wished he could have done more but the child in his arms, a little girl, was safe. She was breathing and alive…

Fatigue overtook Edward as he made his way to the cold ground, holding his baby girl close to him. _I've done everything I can for you… I tried… I really did… I'm so sorry I can't be something better for you._ He wiggled around to get his jacket off and then laid it across the two of them, hoping to at least use his body to keep her warm if nothing else.

Maybe someone would save her; have the heart to keep a little baby, even if that meant they would leave him to rot in the park. At least the baby would be cared for and he would be out of his misery. _She doesn't need a daddy like me… nobody needs a kid like me…_

* * *

 **still not over. sorry that these keep ending like the story is over but there's still some more stuff to come. and those poor babies. you tried as best as you could, ed and that's all that matters.**

 **will someone find him? will they take the baby and leave him or care for him too? at least friggin take him to the hospital or something before you up and take the kid, right? _  
_**


	6. Chapter 6

**sorry for the lack of updates. busy and sluggy haha.**

 **anyhow, so easter eggs in this one. who are they?**

* * *

"Is he alright?"

"Oh my…"

"Hey, are you alright, Edward?"

Edward opened his eyes a little, his eyesight still blurry, and saw two people hovering above him. He couldn't make them out but he could tell one was a man and the other was a woman. They seemed to know him…

"Edward, can you hear me?" the man said, snapping his fingers at Edward's face.

Edward nodded slightly and a faint white showed in his sight to indicate a smile.

"Good! Solaris, he's alright…"

"That's wonderful…" the woman said, coming closer. "Did any of your children survive?"

 _Survive?_ he thought, wondering what she was asking him when he remembered that he had finally given birth. He moved his arms from under his jacket and groggily looked down. He was happy to still find the perfect and beautiful little girl he was holding.

"At least one survived…"

Edward felt strong arms come under him and lift him up, baby and all.

"Come on, kid, let's get you some place a lot better than this."

Edward didn't care anymore and let the darkness overtake him once more.

* * *

The next time Edward woke up, he sat up quickly, sweat covering his body, but he was surrounded by warmth and a blanket. He looked at the blanket in confusion and then at where he was, wondering where exactly it was. He touched his stomach and found it gone, the lives he was carrying gone from him. He remembered the two little lives he had lost and clenched his fists, saddened by their loss and his inability to care for them. He would remember them…

"Oh, you're up."

Edward turned and saw a woman about Roy's age come from the kitchen toward him. Not used to women (or other people) Edward immediately tried to wedge himself into the back of the couch. The woman smiled softly at him and stopped walking towards him.

"I guess you don't remember much of what happened, do you?" Edward shook his head. "You gave birth in the park… we found you behind a bench shivering under your own coat. You had a child in your arms…"

Edward looked around and then glared at the woman. She crossed her arms and smirked a little.

"Don't worry, she's safe and sound. I promise. My name is Solaris Hohenheim and I live here with my husband, Will. He'll be coming in shortly. Are you hungry?"

Edward thought about it for a moment and then nodded slowly. Solaris nodded.

"I have some eggs that I'm making for breakfast. How do you like them?"

Edward made a gesture with his hands and Solaris nodded.

"Scrambled?" Edward nodded. "Wonderful… you're not allergic to milk are you?" Edward made a face. He had never had a problem with milk that he could remember but the last time he tasted it at Roy's house, he decided that he hated the pasty white drink. "I'm just making sure since I put a little milk in my eggs."

 _It's already nasty enough and she wants to go and ruin a perfectly good meal with it?_ he thought. Solaris chuckled.

"You've never seen how eggs are made? You can't taste the milk at all, I promise. It's like when you make a cake, you can't taste the milk in that. Would you like to watch?"

Edward thought for a moment and nodded, moving the cover out of the way and slowly getting to his feet. He swayed a little, trying to adjust his new weight and size, and shuffled over to the kitchen where Solaris had walked back in to. This lady seemed alright, with her luscious black hair and keen blue eyes. Edward was enthralled to find that she had a little picture on her chest and stood a little closer to take a look at it.

He didn't realize he was touching her chest until she pulled back from him. He pulled back from her and blinked at her in confusion.

"What were you doing?" she asked with a bewildered look. He pointed to her chest and made a shape with his fingers. "Oh, you were looking at my tattoo?"

 _What's a tattoo?_ he thought and gave her a confused look.

"Tattoos are pictures that go into the skin by someone using ink. Like someone drew a picture into my skin and it won't come off."

"Well, look who's up and about now. Hey, Ed, did you sleep alright?" Edward heard behind him.

He looked and saw a tall man with dark blonde hair coming from a back room. He was holding something in his arms and Edward looked at the bundle. He pointed at it and looked up at the man.

"Oh, of course… We cleaned her up and fed her so she should be alright now." He said, handing the little bundle over.

Edward smiled and uncovered the blanket, a pair of beautiful blue eyes staring back at him from the tiniest face Edward had ever seen. He smiled big and touched her downy hair. She seemed content with him and he knew that nothing else mattered now, just her life.

"You're lucky we found you when we did. If we had been any later the weather would have gotten you both, but we got you both all warmed up and rested. I'm Will, by the way." The man said, holding out his hand.

Edward shook it and then looked between the two, confused as to their kindness and who they were.

Will could tell he was confused and looked over at his wife.

"Should we tell him?"

"I think it would be easier if we did…"

Will nodded and put his hand on Edward's shoulder.

"Edward… well… this is hard to say but, we're your aunt and uncle." Edward turned his head at that. "That means we are relate to you. Your parents were killed when that crazy man took you and in their will, we were given custody of you. We had no idea where you could be and thought that we would never find you again. We just so happened to be walking in that park and saw you and we thought it was a miracle come true."

Edward lifted an eyebrow at them. He made the notion for paper and Will grabbed a notebook.

 **If you were supposed to keep me then why didn't you look for me?**

"We did search, but that crazy man had you hidden so well." Solaris said.

"We never stopped looking."

 **Then why didn't you come when they found me?**

Will and Solaris looked at each other and hung their heads in shame.

"They had called us in when you were taken to the hospital and we were so happy to know you were safe. But when we saw what you were and that you were harboring life, we just didn't want to have the public shame. We wanted to keep the peace as best as we could. We were cowards." Will said.

"But after a while, we decided to never get that low again. You are our nephew and it didn't matter what happened to you, you were still related to us and we were responsible for you. We _had_ to find you as quickly as possible and God must be shining on us, because now here we are, together as a family."

Edward really wasn't buying the story but it seemed like a more plausible idea than someone just taking him in off the street for no reason than empty words like 'safety' and 'home'. He had tried living in that happiness and although it was wonderful and a dream while it lasted, he knew deep inside that the blissful life he had been living was going to end someway, somehow.

"Do you know what you'll name your baby?"

Edward thought for a moment and then wrote it down on paper.

 **Nina.**

"Nina… That's a nice name. Did you make it up yourself?" Edward shook his head and pointed to his ear. "You heard it?" He nodded. "Well, it's a fine name. Let me get to work on those eggs and you can get acquainted with your daughter for a little bit. We'll teach you how to care for her, so don't you worry about a thing, alright?"

Edward nodded and walked over to the couch, sitting on it and looking at the miracle he was able to produce, both with her life in general and her life at _all_. He could have lost her with the others, but she was tough. He honestly didn't really like the name Nina but Roy did. He had said that if he could ever have children, if he ever got married, he'd like to name his daughter Nina. It reminded him of a kind person and she should be treated with as much kindness as possible. Edward looked at his little girl, his Nina.

 _I'll make sure you're treated like a princess… just like Roy wanted. I wish you could have met him… he was a wonderful man. But maybe we'll have a new family to take care of us. Maybe… maybe we'll be alright with these people… my aunt and uncle…_ He knew his daughter couldn't read his mind and he leaned her up to kiss her forehead. _I'll try my best to make you understand… I'll try to be the best I can be…_

* * *

 **i don't know about yall but i put milk in my eggs to make them fluffy when i scramble them. maybe its a southern thing... so it looks like he's safe for now with his cute little daughter nina. daw...**


	7. Chapter 7

The weeks went by and Edward got used to getting up at night to feed Nina and deal with her as a father in general. He was getting comfortable but something wasn't setting right with him. He didn't know what it was, but it all felt too… forced. It was like he was floating on rain clouds, bulging with rain but not able to release themselves yet. There was tension in the air but Edward couldn't figure out why. He had been sleeping on the couch most of the time, which was fine with him. Anything was better than the concrete or the wet ground or a bench. He would have preferred a bed like Roy had provided him with, but the couch was comfortable and fluffy.

He heard Nina cry out again and he sighed, getting up to make her a bottle when he saw a light coming from a door that he didn't know was there. He quickly made Nina's bottle and then picked her up out of the bassinette that was in Solaris and Will's room and put the nipple in her mouth. She sucked on it eagerly and Edward went to the door. He opened it and found a stairwell that went down. He didn't really think it was a good idea to go down them, but he was already wide awake and he didn't have anything else to do.

* * *

Edward slowly took the steps one at a time, hoping not to run into a squeaky one. It didn't take him long to come to where the stairs opened up into another room and he could hear the sound of tinkering glass and liquid. He decided to just sit on the stairs and listen instead of searching any further.

"You got it?" he heard Solaris ask.

"Yeah, I think this is it."

"Did you want to test it on something before we try it on him?"

Edward turned his head. _Him who?_ he thought as he leaned over to look and see what exactly they were doing. He could only see the backs of the two and was surprised to see them in lab coats, the same type of coat that Shou Tucker wore all the time. He wasn't afraid of that since Roy told him doctors and people who help you wear those coats, but being in front of all the scientific equipment only brought back bad memories for Edward.

He stood up and started to head back up the stairs.

"Do you think he believes us?" Edward heard and stopped.

"How could he not? I mean, no one tried to claim him and no one even tried to look for him. How would he know whether we are or not?"

Edward narrowed his eyes.

"He's not stupid, Will, just mute. I'm sure he'll figure it out sooner or later."

"And when he does, we'll keep him here. We have to finish what he could not."

Edward was frozen to the stairs. He had had a weird suspicion about them for a while but he didn't think he was right! He had to get out of there… he had to find a way back to the people he knew. It would be a long shot, but he knew there was a way to get back to Maes or someone… He willed his legs to move and went back up the stairs. He shut the door softly and leaned against it, wondering what he was supposed to do. He looked down at Nina as she looked up at him. He had to keep her safe…

* * *

Edward tried not to let on that he knew that Solaris and Will were not really his relatives, but it was so hard when he could now see how overly hard they were trying to convince him that they _were_. He actually found it humorous to watch them fawn over him and dote on him when they could care less. Edward wasn't too keen on the approach but it gave Nina a home, food, and safety; and that's all Edward really cared about. He didn't care if they did something to him, just leave his little girl out of it.

* * *

Some months went by and Nina learned how to crawl around. Edward was watching her scoot across the floor one day when Will picked her up and Edward looked up at him. He gave Edward a very large grin and instantly, Edward was on alert.

"Hello, Edward." He waved a little. "Little Nina's getting bigger isn't she?" Edward nodded. "Solaris wants you in the bedroom. I can take care of Nina for you."

Edward stood up but held out his hands. Will made a face.

"What's wrong?"

Edward gestured for him to hand over Nina but Will frowned deeply.

"What's wrong with you? It's not like I'm going to hurt her?"

Edward made a face and reached over to grab her from Will but he pulled her away. Edward's eyes widened.

"I told you that Solaris wanted you in the bedroom. Don't defy me."

Edward looked at Nina, who was watching him, and swallowed. This did not sound good. He turned around slowly and walked to the bedroom, opening the door. Solaris was just standing in the middle of her room, waiting for him.

"Good, I'm glad you're here. I need you to do something for me, alright?"

Edward shook his head and went to get out when he opened the door and saw Will standing there like a guard. He began to breathe quickly in a panic as Solaris held out her hand.

"Come here, sweetie. Auntie's got a task for you."

Edward tried not to let his fear get a hold of him and walked shakily towards Solaris. He looked up at her and she smiled too kindly to him. He then felt something enter into his stomach and looked down to find a large syringe there. He pulled away and looked down at his stomach in confusion. He started getting faint and was losing his ability to stand up straight. He tried to catch the table but he missed and fell to the floor, watching as Solaris stood over him.

"If you can do it once, you can do it again…" she said, pulling the syringe from him.

Edward wondered what she was talking about as his eyesight faded.

* * *

Solaris opened the door and Will looked behind him. He saw Edward on the floor and made a face at her.

"What the hell?"

"He tried to get away but his hand slipped. Help me get him up so we can take him down to the basement."

"Don't you see I have a baby in my arms?"

"When did that stop you from doing anything? Put the kid down and help me get Edward to the basement."

Will sighed angrily and set Nina in her bassinette. He turned and helped stand Edward up so that Solaris could grab a hold of him. She began to pull him and Will went to open the doors.

"Do you think it will work again? I mean, Tucker was pretty close and it worked on Edward but we're looking for something a little different. Besides, I think that this was more a fluke than anything."

"From what I saw in Tucker's notes, he was missing a few things that would make it plausible for us. And it wasn't a fluke. It took really well to him last time, so if we can get it to take again, we can then proceed."

Solaris leaned over and sat Edward on the ground. She grabbed a shackle and put it around Edward's wrist. She wiped off the dirt and looked back at Will.

"There."

"What about the baby?"

"What's up with you and that baby?"

"Don't babies know when they are in danger and stuff?"

"I think you're getting your species mixed up. The kid is the key, so we have to keep her alive. Besides, she's incentive. We'll care for the little runt until she can walk and then we'll put her down here with Edward."

Will nodded and they shut the doors.

* * *

 **ah, dirty bastards! what are they going to do with our sweet edward? and poor nina. she's just in the crosshairs.**


	8. Chapter 8

**remember when an officer dies doing good they usually get posthumously promoted about two ranks**

* * *

Edward wasn't sure how long it had been since he was stuck in the basement of Solaris and Will, but it was long enough for Nina to grow before his eyes. She had just been a tiny baby, needing him almost constantly, then she was scooting around the floor, then crawling and walking. _A year…_ Edward thought, remembering Roy talking about her growing and how fast it would be. Edward didn't believe him when he had told him about it, but being stuck in the basement and sometimes not seeing his little girl for weeks on end, he understood what Roy meant now.

The door opened and Edward looked up. He tried not to lift his head up too quickly, for he had become nauseous due to lack of food and the weird things Solaris and Will injected into his stomach. He wasn't sure what they were doing… It was Will this time and he had Nina with him, helping her down the stairs as she took them one step at a time. Nina saw Edward through the spindles first and her blue eyes widened in delight.

"Dah!" she cried out, pointing to him.

"That's right. That's your Daddy." Will said sweetly to her, although it made Edward even more nauseous to hear him talk to her like that.

He knew Will was nothing like what he appeared. Once they got to the bottom step, Nina wobbled her way over to Edward and wrapped her tiny arms around his neck. He hugged her with his only free arm and kissed her cheek. He touched her tiny curls and smiled lovingly at her. He missed her and wanted her to stay with him but he knew that Will and Solaris wouldn't allow it. _One day they will abandon me from Nina's memory and she will never remember I exist…_ he thought solemnly. He looked up at Will, knowing that he wasn't just being kind and letting Nina visit him.

He wanted something. They _always_ wanted something.

"Do you feel anything different today?" he asked Edward with a pensive expression.

Edward shook his head no but touched his stomach. Will jutted out his chin.

"You feel sick?" Edward nodded. "That's a good sign…"

Edward frowned and motioned for a piece of paper. Will obliged him and Edward shakily wrote on it.

 **Those shots and me not eating is what's making me sick. What exactly are you trying to do?**

Will took the note as Nina still clung to her father's neck.

"It's no concern of yours on what we are trying to do. You just do what we say and let us do what we want to you or Nina-"

Edward grabbed a hold of his daughter to brace her for impact as he lurched to Will. He knew he would scare her, but he would _never_ let these people use his daughter so easily. Edward would gnaw off his own hand to escape to make sure his daughter was safe and away from these two wackos. With the chain attached to him, he could do nothing but threaten, but at least they knew he wasn't screwing around.

Will smiled. "I thought that might get your attention. That being said, don't try to understand what's going on. Let us do that. If you want Nina to be safe and sound, then I suggest you take whatever the hell we want to put in you and not complain."

"Dah?" Nina said, touching his cheeks with her tiny hands.

Edward looked at her as she looked at him questioningly, her eyes asking why he was so tense and alert. Edward sat back and kissed her forehead, giving her an Eskimo kiss. She giggled and Edward glared daggers back at Will, motioning for him to return the paper. He did and he moved Nina so he could write what he needed to.

 **You won't get any results if you don't let me at least eat. Even my first captor fed me during his experiments.**

Will took it and made a face. "I'll bring it up to Solaris. Don't get your hopes up."

Edward rolled his eyes as Will headed out. Nina started to follow him when he stopped her.

"No, no, no; you stay here with Daddy."

Edward looked at him as he smiled cruelly.

"Oh, did we forget to mention that we aren't going to take care of your brat anymore? If you thought so, I'm sorry you did. We weren't going to abandon her completely, but now that she can walk and do most things for herself, she's a nuisance to our work. She's yours, so you can take care of her."

Will trudged up the stairs as Nina tried to crawl up them as well. Edward really couldn't say anything but he didn't want her to get hurt. He made a noise that startled her and Edward shook his head 'no'. Nina looked up the stairs and then at her father as he motioned to her. She stood back up and waddled to him as he pulled her close to his chest. This was going to prove very difficult. He couldn't speak and neither could Nina. She could barely walk… She could say some gibberish, but nothing much else, and Edward could barely squeak. Between the two of them, nothing could get accomplished.

* * *

A couple hours later, the door opened and Nina perked up. Edward was asleep against the wall and she crawled off of him to meet whoever it was coming down the stairs. She leaned over to two small steps and saw Solaris's feet.

"Ri, Ri!" she said, only able to say the last of Solaris's name.

"Hello, tiny person." Solaris said softly.

Nina held her hands up for Solaris to take her but she whisked past the little girl and set a tray on the table. She walked over to Edward and grabbed his cheeks in one hand, making him wake up as he stared at her.

"Will told me you told him you were nauseous."

Edward opened his mouth and pointed to it. Solaris frowned.

"What the hell does that mean?"

Edward pointed to his stomach and then back at his open mouth and then pointed down, a determined expression on his face. Solaris was not amused and so she smacked Edward hard. Edward was sure she tried to put as much oomph into it as possible. It was a twinkling blow to his sight.

"You don't have to authority to demand things, Little Boy." She snarled. Edward just glared at her. "We decided that we will feed you a little more than we were, now that you mention it. We will also be bringing Nina's food as well. It's high time you do your own parenting."

Edward wanted to throttle this woman. She was talking like he had decided on his own to be a part of whatever weird experiment they were trying to do. _This bitch is surely mistaken._ he thought. He didn't cuss often in his head but Will and Solaris got into some pretty extreme arguments, where accusations and very not nice words were thrown at each other. It worried him for Nina's sake more than anything. Even so, if he could have taken Nina and lived on the streets with her, it would have been better than being here where they were both trapped by crazy people… again. _I have a bad habit of getting myself kidnapped…_ he mused for a second.

"Anyway, she gets underfoot too much and we have a lot of things we are trying to accomplish."

Edward motioned for paper and Solaris got him some.

 **Can I ask for something for Nina?**

She read it. "Like what?"

 **I can't talk. Is there a way to help Nina?**

"What use is it if she talks?"

 **Isn't it annoying to have someone like me, who can't talk? But having two people who can't talk? Wouldn't that be even more annoying?**

"The less either of you talk, the less likely we will be discovered."

 **Maybe so, but what trouble can I cause? I'm stuck here, can't talk, and pretty much at your mercy. If I can teach Nina to talk, then maybe you won't have to waste time with notes and stuff. I'm just trying to make it easier for you.**

Solaris stared at him as he watched her patiently. It was a long shot, by far, but if Nina was going to be stuck with him in this odd situation, then if nothing else, she was going to come out halfway normal.

"Even if I wanted to, how would you be able to do anything for her? As you said, you can't talk."

 **But I can draw what words mean, I can spell, and I can use a radio for sounding out words. Despite what you people think, I'm not an idiot. Just… held back.**

Solaris crossed her arms and stared at the two of them for a moment. She then walked over, pulling out a key from her quite large bosom, and unlocked the shackle on his wrist. He watched in surprise as it clanged to the floor and then looked back at her in confusion.

"You may be able to speak, but the child could be quite useful in our endeavors. You're right; having both of you unable to talk would only cause difficulty in the long run. It's annoying enough with you." Edward smirked a little. "The only reason I'm doing this is out of convenience for _us_ , not you. With that being said, I have conditions."

Edward nodded quickly, willing to do anything to keep the shackle off and be able to make Nina better than him. Solaris crouched down in front of him.

"One: you and Nina are not to leave the confines of the floor. You stay here, don't even pass the landing. Two: we are still going to experiment on you. You must cooperate fully and without a fight. If you try to cause problems we will go after Nina." Edward frowned but nodded. "Three: if I find you trying to teach her how to escape, I will put you in shackles again –two this time- and then I will throw Nina in an orphanage, where you will never find her again... or worse, depending on the mood. Last but not least, four: you will give yourself to us as a guinea pig of science. Not just with what we are trying to do now, but anything further. If this is a success, we will need someone to be our trial. We won't touch Nina in any way, but only if you agree fully."

Edward didn't want to agree to half of the stipulations, but if it would help keep Nina away from them, he would endure it. He nodded and she smirked.

"There's a good boy… I'll bring a radio down here and see if I can find some picture books or something useful."

She turned and grabbed the tray off of the table she had had from before as Edward stood up, stretching his arms and body.

"This is your food. When you are done, set it on the landing."

He took the tray from her and sat down, looking at the food on the plate. He smiled big and also found a little plate that had food edible and easy for Nina.

"Ah…" he called as best he could, which sounded more like a burp than a name.

Nina looked over at him and pointed to the food. She came over and they ate together for the very first time. He was surprised at how easy everything went, but he knew that Will would not be pleased and he would have to hear their yelling and screaming through the vent again. _Maybe I can convince them to give me a mattress with a blanket…_ he thought as Nina held up a cut up carrot for him to eat. He opened his mouth and let her stick it in before he acted like he got her fingers. She giggled and he smiled.

* * *

The yelling started at little later than Edward thought it would. He had heard them whispering a lot and then their voices started getting higher. Well, Will's did. Will was usually the one who was yelling. Solaris seemed to always keep her cool, although she could be devilish herself at times. Will was yelling about Solaris being an idiot for what she had done and Edward really wished they would bring some blankets since it was really cold in the basement. Nina was shivering and he held her close to try and keep her warm, but he was shivering too.

He was starting to get used to the screaming and yelling through the vent that led to the basement since when he was shackled he didn't have anywhere else to move to; although he could tell that Nina wasn't that used to it. She was silent for the most part, but when Will would start up again, she would jump. Edward held her close and nuzzled her hair to show that she was safe. He wondered how she never heard it up there… A thought suddenly occurred to him and he turned his head in the dark. _I wonder if Maes has been looking for me._ he thought. Then he shook his head. _No… there's no reason to look for me. Roy took me in because he was nice and Maes liked me because Roy did… since Roy's dead, he probably forgot all about me._ He looked down at Nina, seeing she couldn't keep her little eyes open any longer and fell asleep. _At least for Nina's sake, I hope he is…_

* * *

 **~*~ SOLARIS AND WILL'S ROOM~*~**

"Sometimes I wonder how smart you really are. Do you really think that just because he's mute doesn't mean he won't try to escape?"

"There's no reason to have the child be as stupid as her father."

"You obviously aren't seeing that he's _not_ stupid."

"He's stupid enough to not try anything. He has a lot of potential… It's a side experiment."

Will lifted an eyebrow at Solaris and then crossed his arms.

"How so?"

"We haven't gotten anything from the notes, being as they are in code. The one thing we did get is that he is not exactly from Amestris. He has abilities that he doesn't even understand. He will comply as long as we threaten the tiny child and if we keep our end of the bargain to help the child, he will give us a measure of trust. If we feed him and make him more comfortable, he will be more apt to follow our direction as well. As they say, 'you get more flies with honey than with vinegar'."

"It might be true about his lineage, but he doesn't know that and who's to say he knows how to read alchemy?"

"We won't know until we make him. Tucker's notes indicated that he was not as 'handicapped' as we are perceiving." She slid her eyes to Will. "He's toying with us."

"How is that? The kid can't speak and is as naïve as his own kid."

Solaris smirked. " _Now_ who's obviously not seeing his true nature?"

Will crossed his arms. "Well then, if you're so damned confident about it, I'll leave everything to you. Hell if I'm going to get blamed for him escaping."

"He _won't_ escape. He loves the tiny human too much to cause a problem. I told you the stipulations I laid out for him and anything to keep his daughter out of our grasps is enough to make him do what we ask. _Anything_ we ask. You seem to be forgetting the broad range of that word."

Will rolled his eyes and sat on the bed.

"Whatever then. You seem to know what you're doing."

"Of course I do."

"-an 'In Memoriam' plaque dedicated to Major Roy Mustang for the bravery he exhibited in the line of duty."

"Officer Hughes, whatever became of the child Major Mustang took into custody? The one that had been missing for ten years and was found where that mad man was doing grotesque experiments on him?"

"Yeah, the little freak boy." Someone said more serious than that statement should have been said.

"Did he birth those impossible children?"

"Have you heard from him?"

There was a buzz of overlapping voices on the radio when they seemed to quiet down a bit.

"Unfortunately, I don't know the whereabouts of Edward, nor how he is fairing. I'm sure he would have birthed the children by now, considering he was quite far along when Major Mustang had him. It was a solemn day when Major Mustang was killed and unfortunately, Edward had been there when I pulled his body from the building and was quite broken by the experience. He took off and I haven't been able to locate him since."

"Is he of top priority?"

"He's just a freaky kid."

"Edward is only a child that had no say in the matters that were given to him. He didn't ask to be taken and experimented on and he didn't ask to be implanted with children. We, as a society, should be ashamed of the way we have treated him. He should have been taken into an orphanage or something and shown kindness. All we did was show him hostility."

"So you're _actually looking_ for the child?"

"Yes. I _am_. I have permission from the higher ups to pursue-"

"Turn that shit off, Solaris."

She went over and turned off the radio.

"Should I call in someone to rectify that issue?"

"He'll never find us and even if he did, they'd never find Edward."

Solaris sighed, bored, and unplugged the radio.

"I'll be taking this then. It's not like you like it."

Will made a noise as she walked out.

* * *

 **what's this? is edward really playing them? well, he is smarter than people give him credit for... he's still mute though but he might not be as naive as they believe he is**

 **and it looks like maes is still looking for edward after all this time. and some of you doubted him.**


	9. Chapter 9

**ugh, trying to get everything updated on here. sorry for the lackage.**

 **and please remember that although tucker is in this, this is an au and nina is not his daughter**

* * *

"Dah?" Edward heard Nina say.

He opened his eyes and she looked at him with worry. He smiled softly to her and she touched his face.

"Dah hah?" she asked.

Another two years had gone by and as per the stipulations Solaris had set for him, Edward took whatever the two gave him and stayed their guinea pig. As of right now though, he wished they would just let him have a small mattress. He wasn't asking for much in that regard and a bed of hay would have been suffice, but the cold stone floor of the basement and lack of blankets added to his fourth bout of sickness.

Although Nina was only three, she had seen what the people she thought were kind people did to her father. It didn't take a genius or someone with a lot of mental knowledge to understand what abuse was.

Edward motioned for paper and wrote on it.

 **Use good words.**

Nina looked at it and pouted. In teaching Nina the basic fundamentals of speech, reading, and writing, Edward had to admit that his daughter was a genius. By the latter part of her first year, she was already writing basic sentences to Edward for communication and could read words. By two she was able to make tiny sentences and ask questions. At three, she was discovering the world around her in the basement they were kept in and she was also discovering the cruelties of it. Her daddy couldn't talk, the two people who came down the stairs hurt him sometimes, and they weren't exactly the nicest to her. They had never touched her, but Edward was always getting hit from protecting her.

Edward hated that his smart and lovely daughter only understood pain and suffering. She didn't need to be here…

"Daddy hot?" she said again, following his direction on the note.

In teaching Nina, Edward had learned to try and broaden his vocals a little. He could never get a good sentence out but it was broken gurgle. He knew he'd never be able to carry on a normal conversation, but Nina could. The problem was that his broken gurgle sometimes crossed over to Nina's speech so he had to correct her sometimes, but only in his presence.

He would never let Solaris and Will know that she was fluent in speech.

Edward nodded at her as she touched his face again, frowning at the fever he was developing. The door opened from above and Nina gasped, running away into a tiny cage on the other side of the room. She closed the door as the footsteps echoed in the basement. Will held a bottle in his hand and pointed at Edward.

"You! What are you doing laying down at the time like – _hic_ \- this? You need to sit up and get ready for this next batch of the form- _hic_ -ula we made. I think we got it right this time…"

Edward didn't do anything and Will growled, putting the bottle on the table and walking over to Edward. He grabbed him by the shirt and shook him a little.

"Answer me! I know you can, you little piece of shit!"

Edward coughed in his face (by accident and on purpose) and Will dropped him, causing Edward to cough some more. He wiped his nose as Will clenched his fist.

"I've had about enough of you."

He pulled his leg back to kick him but he stopped when a tiny squeak caught his attention. He looked over at Nina and then back at Edward. Will walked over to the cage and pulled on the door, where a lock should have been. He snarled and reached in, grabbing Nina. She cried out and Edward growled from the floor like a feral animal.

"Dah!" she yelled in fright as Will practically held her from the floor with only her hair.

"Do you think I keep this little brat around so that I can feel fatherly every once in a while? HUH?!" Edward looked up at him with low eyes from the floor. "Do you think I'm an idiot?! I know you've been teaching her how to escape from here! You've been letting her listen to radio dramas about escaping for the past year and a half! All those prison dramas and spy dramas… Solaris thinks it's just variety but I know what you're trying to do." He practically shook Nina by her hair and she cried out in pain. Edward watched him. "If you don't quit your rebellious attitude and secret teachings of escape, I promise you that Nina will be our _next_ guinea pig."

Edward snarled and launched at Will, making him trip over the bottom stairs. Edward grabbed his daughter and held her close as he scrunched himself as far as his body would let him to the corner of the room. One of the experimental concoctions they had given him had actually made him pretty strong. He had a lot of dexterity, strength, and even though he couldn't talk, he had managed to master snarling and growling like an animal. Whether it was a natural instinct he had given himself or part of the formula, he didn't know. All he cared about was keeping Nina safe.

He knew he could escape at any time but he was afraid that doing so would cause problems. So he suffered.

Will stood back up and clenched his fists.

"You will pay for that."

He left and Nina looked up at Edward.

"Daddy?" He looked down at her. "Cheeks…"

She reached up to his flushed face and touched them. Edward relaxed and practically dropped Nina from untensing. He reached up and touched her head.

"Hut?" he asked softly.

She nodded and he clenched his fist. Nina climbed into his lap and laid her head on his chest. She grabbed one of his hands and put it on top of her head.

"Better?" she asked.

He began to do little massages with his fingers as she snuggled into Edward's chest.

"I luh ooh, Daddy."

"Mmm." He replied but Nina knew he meant the same thing.

Soon, his hand slipped from her head and she looked up, seeing him fall asleep against the wall. She knew she shouldn't do it, but her Daddy was cold and he was sick. She got out of Edward's arms and crawled slowly up the stairwell to the door that was at the top. She reached up and turned the doorknob, the door opening slightly. She didn't remember being up there before but all she wanted was a blanket for her father.

* * *

Will opened the bedroom door as Solaris looked up and frowned at Will's disheveled appearance.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"That piece of shit downstairs happened. He's planning something with that kid, I know it. You think he's not tuning into those spy dramas and stuff by letting him have control of the whole radio down there but he's teaching her how to escape. And she's _not_ as dumb as she seems. I can tell."

Solaris made a face when she saw Nina tiptoe behind Will into the living room. She watched her as inconspicuously as she could as she looked at Will as well.

"That last batch didn't even come close to what we were wanting to do. It made him more like a feral animal than it did anything close to what the research we are trying to gather is for."

"Well, remember, we were just making sure that he was still compatible with everything. It really wasn't part of the initial experimentation."

Solaris lifted an eyebrow at Nina grabbing a large thick blanket and walking slowly back towards the basement. Once out of sight, Solaris focused her full attention on Will.

"I'm just saying we seem to be procrastinating. The kid is already three years old and the more we allow them to be together, the smarter she's going to become. They'll escape one way or another. We have to buckle down and at least get that serum in him before it's too late."

"Do you plan on letting yourself get caught then?" she asked with a sardonic smile.

"No, you twit. I just don't want to get caught like the other guy did. I want to see the experiment all the way through to the end. If it worked once it can work again."

"Maybe we're missing a factor. I think we need to delve more into the notes about the setting up of the experiment more than the ingredients. We have that, but sometimes his experiments were all about the mood."

"True… God I'm so tired of this." He growled, getting into bed. "I'm going to bed. Don't wake me until I wake up myself."

Solaris nodded and waited until he was fast asleep. She then slipped out of bed and went to the basement.

* * *

Nina covered her and Edward up with the thick blanket that she had taken from above and snuggled in her father's arms. She didn't like the way his face looked and his skin was cold to the touch. She knew from the books she and Edward read that this was a bad thing. The door opened from above and Nina tried to practically merge with her father. A few moments later, the cover lifted up and Nina looked out, seeing Solaris.

"You're going to get yourself into trouble, Nina."

Nina stuck her tongue out at Solaris and the older woman sighed.

"I'm not playing around, Nina. Pull a stunt like that again and I'll make sure to make _you_ are our next guinea pig."

"No." she said.

"Then I suggest you keep yourself in check, young lady." Solaris looked at Edward and frowned. "I guess I'll bring him something for the fever."

She left and Nina sat up, waiting for Solaris to come back. A few minutes later, Solaris came back with a small cup filled with red liquid.

"Wake your father up."

Nina shook Edward until he opened his eyes a little and she pointed to Solaris. He looked up and heavily sat himself up on his side.

"I'll talk to Will about the accommodations down here. This is the fourth time you've taken sick. I'll let you keep the thick blanket for now."

Edward didn't really understand what she was saying, since he was half asleep and half full of fever, but he swallowed the medicine and made a face at the taste. Nina grabbed her little notebook and wrote Solaris a note about maybe getting some sort of bed down there and Solaris thought for a moment.

"I'll see what Will has to say. Letting you be too comfortable could make things difficult."

Nina pouted but Edward pulled her to him as he started to fall back asleep. Solaris went back upstairs to sleep as well.

Nina woke up drenched in sweat and looked over at Edward, who was shaking in his sleep. He was wet with sweat as well and didn't look well at all. Nina shook him awake and he opened his eyes blearily at her.

"You're hot, Daddy." She said with a worried look.

He smiled a little but he looked like opening his eyes was about all he could handle for the day. She touched his face and found him clammy as well as very warm. She tried to think of things that people did on the dramas to help the ones who were sick, but everything involved stuff she didn't already have. She heard the door open and squeaked, hiding under the covers with Edward.

"You keep babying him and the runt. I think you're going soft, Solaris."

"I'm just trying to make it easier to get this experiment done. So far, we can't get him to hold and he keeps getting sick because of the environment down there. I'm not saying it because I want him to be comfortable, I'm saying it because he's the only specimen we have that could make this work. So far when things have been favorable things have gone well, so I'm going by the facts, not because I feel bad for him."

Will and Solaris appeared at the bottom of the stairwell and Nina peeked out from the covers. Will pulled them back and grabbed Nina by the hair again. She cried out and Edward woke up, his eyes red from sickness, but he sat up quickly.

Will grinned. "Good, got your attention. It has come to my attention that in order for things to go a little more smoothly, we will have to make your accommodations a little more hospitable. Did the doctor have a room like this?" Edward shook his head no. "Did it look like a normal bedroom?" Edward nodded. "Fine. We'll bring a small mattress down here and some blankets. There's a price, though, for my generosity." Edward rolled his eyes but nodded in comprehension. "Nina gets to watch."

Edward turned his head in confusion at what he meant by that.

"Nina has to sit and watch all the experiments we conduct on you. Doesn't matter what they are or what they do to you. She has to watch and can't try to run away. You understand thatk, you little mouse?" he growled, yanking Nina's hair.

Edward growled at him in warning of hurting his daughter and Will glared at him.

"And none of that nonsense. You're a human being, not some animal. You two belong to us and we can do whatever we fucking want to with you both. We choose not to use Nina but don't think we won't if push comes to shove. She's not immune from us."

Edward stared intently at him, daring him to try something with his daughter.

They ended up in a staring contest but Will couldn't win. He scoffed and threw Nina towards Edward. She slipped and fell hard to the floor, hitting her head.

Everything was in slow motion for Edward. Reaching out for his daughter, missing her by a breadth, her body falling away from him, her head hitting the hard floor. He lost his ability to breathe for one second as he stared at his daughter for a moment, lost in confusion. He then snapped to reality and quickly picked her up, assessing the damage. She was still breathing but there was a bruise forming on her forehead.

"Cheh, serves her right-"

A snarl cut Will off as Edward put Nina down gently and then turned to Will. For once, Will had the decency to look scared and Edward was suddenly on him, suffocating him against the wall where his hand was sinking deeper into his trachea.

"You. Hurt. Nina!" Edward snarled, talking hurting his throat so much he thought he felt it bleeding. "I. WILL. _KILL_ YOU."

"Let me go! Solaris!" Will yelled, trying to get Solaris's attention.

His eyesight was going black around the edges as unconsciousness began to fall in.

"Dah?"

Edward turned as Nina blinked at him from the floor. Distracted by Nina's consciousness, he let Will go and ran to her, falling to his knees. He touched her face and hugged her tight, so happy she was alright. He looked at the bump and a pained look came over his face as he rubbed it with his thumb.

"Hur?" he asked, barely a whisper.

She nodded and pointed to it. "Ki' it."

He smiled and kissed it gently but began to cough into his hand. He pulled back and found that yes, his throat was bleeding. Nina gasped and pulled his shirt in desperation.

"Bah, bah!" she said, fear in her eyes.

Edward was about to comfort her when he felt something looming over him. He turned but was hit in the face. Nina screamed as Edward flew back, stars dancing in his sight as he hit the hard ground much harder than Nina did. He could feel his consciousness slipping away from him.

"You've royally pissed me off, Edward. Say goodbye to your precious little girl."

Edward could only watch as Will tore Nina away from him as she desperately tried to hold onto her father. All Edward could do was stretch out his hand towards her as he watched Will haul her up the stairs.

Tears filled Edward's eyes as the door slammed closed. He knew he'd never see his daughter again… his baby girl. His life.

Unconsciousness overtook him and he wished so many times that it was death instead.

* * *

 **nuuuu! nina's been taken away! what will ed do? will he be okay? will no one save him? why am I asking YOU these questions?**


	10. Chapter 10

**i apologize for lack of updates on my stuff. i keep getting jobs that make it impossible to find time to do anything. hopefully i will get into the groove of things again. but i haven't stopped, so please don't think I have! enjoy!**

* * *

There was a lot of things that Edward couldn't remember. He couldn't really remember a life without it being in a dungeon or in someone else's clutches. He couldn't remember who he used to be before he was captured. He didn't even have a last name. Hell, his name probably wasn't even Edward. But the one thing that Edward always would remember was when he found out he was carrying life within him. He would always remember when Roy found him and he had a home and for once in his life, he felt like he was loved and all the feelings he'd never felt before. He would never forget losing two of his precious children and suffering in the cold to keep the only surviving one alive. He would always remember his daughter's bright face as she saw him in the morning, loved him like no one else could.

But it was all gone.

Everything he ever loved or wanted in the world was gone as Will stole his daughter away from him. Life really had no meaning anymore. He didn't care what was going on. He felt himself being nicked and prodded and made to drink certain things, but he really didn't care. Everything in his life was a big joke that seemed to always end up with him on the sick end of it. Life was not his friend and it looked like it never would be.

* * *

Edward opened his eyes and felt something odd. He looked down and saw that he was covered in a thick comforter. He made a face and looked behind him, where a good lump of pillows was supporting him. He also looked at his arm that was in a sling and made a face and coughed. His throat felt like sandpaper against a rose petal and he put his free hand to his mouth. Pulling it back, he saw speckles of blood. He looked around, wondering what horrors he would run into next. The door opened and Edward turned to it.

"Oh, good, you're awake." Someone said.

The voice sounded familiar. Edward wasn't exactly feeling well so he wasn't sure if his eyes were deceiving him or not. He felt the man sit down beside him and touch his forehead with the back of his hand.

"You've still got a bad fever." Edward didn't really say anything. "Do you remember me, Ed?"

Edward wasn't really sure of anything at the moment. The man held out something that may have been a piece of paper.

"Here…"

Edward took it and brought it really close to his face where the haze lifted enough for him to see a small note.

 **YOU VERY NICE. I HAPPY. I LIKE MAES. 3**

"Do you remember when you wrote that to me when you were at Roy's house?"

Edward looked at the man again and narrowed his eyes a little, just barely making out Maes's black spiky hair. He motioned for a pen and paper. He was given it and wrote slowly on it.

 **Maes?**

"Yeah! It's me!"

Edward smiled a little and wrote some more.

 **My head is foggy and I can't see right.**

"That's probably because it looks like they beat the shit out of you. Your eyes are really swollen. You also have a head cold so your eyes are watering really bad. I won't bother you anymore for right now though, okay? Get some sleep and we'll talk about everything when you're well."

Edward nodded and leaned back on the soft pillows. He hadn't had pillows in _years_. He would really enjoy this.

* * *

After what seemed like forever, Edward finally woke up again with a ravenous appetite. He could see much clearer now and looked around at the green room. There was a window on the side of it and Edward slowly slipped out of bed, going to the window. He smiled at the trees and the sky! Oh how he had missed the sky. _I wish Nina were here to see it. She's always wanted to see the sky…_ His eyes started to water when he realized that his daughter was gone. It had to have been some months since she was taken from him and if Will's threats were solid, then she was probably halfway through the childcare system. Her loss suddenly hit him now that he wasn't fighting for his life –or rather, giving up. He slid to the floor and cried, his heart breaking. The door opened and he heard a gasp.

"Edward? What's wrong, are you alright?"

He felt arms around him and he sobbed in Maes's chest.

"What happened?"

"Nah!" he tried to tell him.

"Nah? Nina? Your daughter?" Edward nodded in his chest. "She's safe, Edward." He looked up at Maes as he smiled down at him. "She's in the living room coloring a picture. I told her not to disturb you since you haven't been able to sleep well. She's been patiently waiting for you."

Edward's eyes widened and he stood up with Maes, pushing away from him to run into the living room. When he got there, he didn't see anyone there but he could hear a small child's voice humming something from around the couch.

"Nah!" Edward yelled.

A little girl peeked around the couch and then smiled big, standing up.

"Daddy!" she yelled, running to him.

He scooped her up in his arms and kissed her cheeks, rubbed her hair, hugged her as hard as she would allow.

"I missed you, Daddy!"

Edward couldn't stop crying as he held her close to him.

Maes watched from the bedroom door and smiled at them.

"You've got a smart little girl, Edward. Did you teach her all on your own?" Edward nodded at him. "If not for her you would have never been found."

Edward looked at him in confusion. Maes motioned for him to follow him and he picked up a paper that looked like it may have been a few days old. The story was on the front page.

* * *

 _ **LOST CHILD FOUND THEN LOST THEN FOUND!**_

 _Some years the city tuned in as the military discovered a mad man by the name of Shou Tucker that had kidnapped a young boy and used him in gruesome experiments involving bioalchemy and many other unorthodox experiments. The boy, named Edward, was found to be with child due to these experiments. Major Roy Mustang of the Amestrian military had taken the boy in but was sadly killed in an attack on Central a few years ago. Edward was also lost and soon we all heard the pleas from another military officer, Maes Hughes, that if any information was found on young Edward to please let him know. After three years, though, Officer Hughes finally got word on Edward but it came from a very unlikely source._

 _As it turns out, Edward had his children but sadly two of them died. The surviving one, Nina, was being semi-raised by the couple who kidnapped Edward for the second time, Will and Solaris Hohenheim. After an altercation with the couple and Edward, young Nina was smart enough to call the police and tell them the whereabouts of the Hohenheim house, prompting a very important rescue. The police informed Officer Hughes and-_

* * *

Edward started to turn the page but Maes stopped him. "You don't need to read the rest of it." he said. He pointed to Nina. "If she hadn't called 911 you both could still be in there."

"They were gone but I pickded the lock." Nina said with a grin.

Edward smiled at her and looked at Maes, who looked happy to see him. He reached over and rustled his hair.

"I'm so glad I've finally found you."

Edward laughed a little, so happy to know that this was not a dream and that for once in his miserable life, the kindness was true.

* * *

A couple weeks later, Maes decided to take Edward out for some fresh air and food. Maes wasn't the best of cooks but he wanted to treat Edward to something big and delicious. Something that would fill him up to the brim. Edward was a little skeptical of people seeing him again but Maes said he would protect him. To his surprise though, there was a new vibe towards him when people saw him. They recognized Nina from the picture in the paper and then realized Edward was her father and they told him how sorry they were to hear of his trials and the like. Edward was kind of overwhelmed by the niceness of everyone that he finally just stayed behind Maes half the time to try and not be seen.

After lunch, Maes stopped at a store that sold sundry items for a dollar and handed Edward a $10 bill.

"Here, find yourself some snacks. I need to go to the store next door and get some food for the house. Everything is a dollar or less so you should be able to get a few things." Edward nodded in understanding as Maes left him and Nina in the store.

Nina dragged her father over to the candy and they picked out some taffies and a few hard candies. As they went down an aisle that sold some small ten page pamphlets, one about pregnancy caught Edward's eye and he picked it up, flipping through it. It gave a rough breakdown of the symptoms of pregnancy, gestation period, and a few other facts needed for someone who would become a parent. He decided to get one since it was only a dollar and he was having a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't rescued unscathed from Will and Solaris's grasps. He never knew exactly what they were trying to do with him but he always had a feeling in his chest that they were trying to get him pregnant again.

"You buy that?" Nina asked, seeing Edward holding the small pamphlet in his hand.

Edward looked at her as she looked at him in worry. He shrugged a little as Nina leaned against his legs.

"I like babies, so it okay, Daddy."

Edward smiled a little and rubbed her hair as they went through the other aisles.

* * *

 **SOME MONTHS LATER**

"Do… you… not like bentos anymore?" Maes asked as he put the rest of the food on the table. "I mean, I got your favorite…"

Edward just held his nose as Maes put the food down and found a piece of paper.

 **I don't think it's all of the food but just something is really powerful and makes me want to vomit.**

"Well I'm not going to let you throw up in it for a smell."

 **Maybe if you unstack them one by one?**

Maes shrugged and did as Edward asked. It was the middle one on the third bento that he pulled off that made Edward gag. Maes looked in it and Edward felt devastated. It was his favorite, pork fried rice. Edward wanted to cry.

"Hey, it's alright. No big deal. You can just have mine. Mine's stir fried udon. Hey." Edward wiped his eyes a little as Maes looked at him in concern. "Are you feeling alright? You've been acting a little strange lately."

Edward sniffled when it dawned on him what it could be. He suddenly ran from the room and went to the bedroom, rummaging around in some drawers for the pamphlet he had bought. After a couple of minutes, he finally found it and began to read and his heart sank. He really did feel sick to his stomach and ran to the toilet, vomiting into it. He started crying and then it turned into sobs and then he full out screamed at the top of his lungs.

Maes was setting up Nina's plate when the sound of a dying eagle caught his ears and Nina looked at him.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I don't know… Let me go check on your father."

Nina used her plastic fork to eat a carrot as Maes went to Edward's room. When he didn't see him, he saw the guest bathroom was closed and he knocked on it.

"Edward? Edward, are you alright?"

After listening for a couple of seconds, Maes opened the door and found Edward leaned against the toilet, sobbing. Maes walked in and saw the pregnancy pamphlet on the counter and knelt next to Edward.

"Edward? Edward, look at me." He looked up at him. "What happened?"

Edward pointed up to the pamphlet and Maes grabbed it, reading the page it was folded over on. Maes tisked and touched Edward's back softly.

"Aw, Edward, you think they got you again?" Edward nodded as he cried. "I'm _so_ sorry, kid."

Maes sat on the bathtub looking at the pamphlet.

"I mean, are you sure? It even says here that you should really get some tests to double check and make sure your symptoms aren't related to a cold. Besides, you weren't exactly in the best of conditions when we found you so it's not unusual for you to catch something…"

Edward shook his head and pointed into the toilet. Maes looked in a little and made a face. Edward also motioned sleeping and pointed to his tears.

"Oh… well, yeah, sleeping a lot and being over emotional is listed… and aversions to smells. Do you want to go and get checked out by a professional? I don't think anyone will beat you up again." Edward shook his head. "Yeah, you might be right. Now that you're not considered an abomination if they find out about this then they may overcrowd you. You're not good with a lot of people." Edward shook his head again. "What about a home visit? I know a good friend who knows a doctor that might not mind coming by."

Edward thought for a moment and gave a small nod. He'd rather be overreacting about it but if someone else could tell him, he'd be grateful.

"I'll go and give her a call. Brush your teeth and come see what you can eat. I know it's not exactly what's on your mind but getting full will help."

Edward nodded a little.

* * *

"Yup."

"Are you positive?" Maes asked.

"Positive the sun rising in the east." She said, handing him papers. "The kid has a bun in the oven."

Maes leaned on his friend's desk and rubbed his face in his hands. She leaned on her elbow.

"Is that a problem for you, Maes the Magnificent?" she said with a smirk.

"No… it's just… God, this kid has gone through so much already and just when we all thought things were going to be normal, this happens? I just want him to understand what it means to be normal."

The young woman with shoulder length brown hair and a pretty headband in her hair looked at Maes for a moment and put her hand on his.

"Hey," He looked at her. "He's got you now. Before he was trapped with some crazy dude who was doing other stuff to him while he was pregnant. And who knows, maybe it will be just one this time. The point is, though, is that he's got you to protect him and to love him and understand him. The first time, people didn't understand him and ridiculed him for it even though he didn't have a choice and true, he wasn't given a choice this time either, but you can sure as hell let him know that it will be the _last_ time someone doesn't give him a choice. _You_ , Maes Hughes, are there to protect him and that means he will never experience this ever again."

Maes smiled at her and leaned over to her.

"I could kiss you, Gracia."

"Please do; I've been dying over here." She said with a bat of her green eyes.

Maes got super close to her but pulled back and grinned.

"Later, my sweet puff. Right now I have to go and tell a kid he was fucked with… again."

"Hey, let me see him sometime. You talk so much about him."

"I dunno…"

"Come on, Maes, if I'm going to accept a stepchild then I should get to know him first."

Maes smiled a little. "Stepchild, huh?"

"Duh, he's practically like your son." She made a face at him and put her hands on her hips. "And if he isn't, he should be. You talk about him enough for him to."

Maes smirked. "I'll see what I can do, Gracia."

She gave him a raspberry and he chuckled. He was happy to have found Gracia. She was spirited, happy, and was accepting of his decision to take Edward in whenever he found him. She had helped him try to find Edward by using her skills as a receptionist to look into any files that may have pertained to Edward. She was a good ally and had kept him grounded through the years of stress and waiting to find Edward. If not for her, Maes didn't know what he would have done.

* * *

Telling Edward that he really was with child was the hardest thing Maes had ever done. It was right up there with going to a parent's house and telling them that their child was dead. He had never seen someone go so pale so quick. Edward bawled in the covers and Maes rubbed his shoulder softly.

"I'm so sorry, Edward… Believe me, I'm so sorry. I know it's humiliating."

Edward grabbed his notepad.

 **FREAK! ALL I AM IS A FREAK!** he wrote in all caps, underlining 'freak' about eight times before his emotions got a hold of him again.

Maes grabbed the notepad and put it aside.

"You're not a freak, Edward. This is not something that you wanted. What those people did is horrible and I'll make sure that it gets added to their sentence. They will pay for what they've done."

Edward smacked his belly and then smacked it again, repeatedly until he fell back into the bed and sobbed some more.

Maes really couldn't take Edward's agony and felt his own tears come to his eyes. He sat on the edge of the bed for a little while to try and think of something to say.

"I looked high and low for you when you were gone. I promised Roy I'd take care of you and that promise seemed to already be broken. At first… at first it was to have a bit of Roy with me. We were best friends and he loved you like a son… but as the months went by and I couldn't find you, I started thinking of you as _my_ son. I had to have something to keep me going, to find you. After a while, that is what you became to me, my son. When I heard Nina's little voice on the phone when the police station patched her through and she told me her name, I thought I was dreaming. And then… then asked her, 'Nina, what's your daddy's name?' and when she said 'Edward'… Oh… I cried. I cried as hard as you're crying now.

"I had found you. I found my son. But when we got there and I saw the state you were in, I vowed in my heart that day that I would never let someone do that to you again. I would keep you safe. I would fight the ends of the earth to keep you safe. It seems I failed again… they got you before I even knew it and what can I do? It's already begun and I know you won't take it out. I honestly wouldn't want you to but… but they fucked you over _again_ and where was I?"

Edward touched Maes's arm and handed him his notepad.

 **You were where I needed you most.** Maes looked at him, his own tears trailing down his face. **When I couldn't be found, you were out there looking. When I needed justice, you gave it to me. Even though the injustice carried over, you're right here… where I need you to be. I don't remember my parents so all I can compare you to is Roy, but if I had to choose another father figure, it'd be you.**

Maes didn't even try to keep his tears at bay as he cried.

"Found… me…"

Maes looked up as Edward cried.

"Found… me…" he said.

Maes pulled him to his chest, hugging him close.

"I won't lose you again. I won't _ever_ lose you again.

* * *

 **poor eddy just can't catch a break at all. but maes is there for him and he will try to keep him as safe as he can. you're not alone now ed!**


	11. Chapter 11

**so there are a couple of easter eggs in here. see if you can find them!**

* * *

Nina looked at Edward's stomach as he ate a bowl of ice cream on the couch. He noticed she was staring at him and turned his head at her. She smiled.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" she asked.

He shrugged and made a noise of nonchalance. Nina made a face and crawled closer to her father.

"Daddy, do you hate your tummy?"

"Uh huh." He answered without taking a beat.

"But _I_ was in there too… did you hate _me_?" Edward shook his head no. "Then how come you hate it?"

Edward grabbed his notebook beside him and wrote on it.

 **They took me when I was little and did things to me. I didn't know it was not good. This time I know it's not good and they hurt you in the process.**

Nina read it and pointed at 'process'. "What's that word?"

Edward spelled it out for her and she sounded it out.

"Prah…kess?"

 **Sometimes Cs make S sounds.**

"Prah-sess." He nodded. "What's that?"

 **For here it means they hurt you while they were trying to do stuff to me.**

"Oh… but it didn't mean it, Daddy." Edward looked at her. "It didn't mean to grow, right?"

Edward thought about it for a moment and smiled at his very intuitive daughter. _I'm so glad she ended up being so smart!_

 **I guess you're right.**

Nina grinned. "So are you still gonna hate it?"

Edward shrugged, truly not knowing how he was going to react to it. So far it looked like it was only one baby this time, not multiples. He was almost done with the pregnancy as well, being in his last trimester. He hoped that he wouldn't have to go through the same ordeal as before, being by himself.

There was a knock at the door and Edward put the ice cream bowl on the counter to go to the door. He looked in the peephole and saw what looked like the mailman. He opened the door and the person looked up. Edward instantly felt that something was wrong and tried to slam the door. The person grabbed the door and stopped it with his feet. Edward walked backwards, yelling for Nina to come with him in his broken English. She rushed to his side as the man took off his hat and looked down at him.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Edward. I thought I'd find you here." The man said with a large smile and a shining single gold tooth.

Edward tried to keep Nina behind him and protect his belly at the same time. _How do these weirdo people keep **finding** me?!_ he yelled in his head. The man started to take off his gloves.

"You most likely don't remember me. You were usually drugged most of the time but don't think I've forgotten you." He said, twirling his finger at him. "You little breeding thing, you. Looks like Will and Solaris actually accomplished something. It only took them what? Three years?" Edward just stared. "They were amateurs. Now that you're quite ripe for the picking, I want to see if _my_ experiment works on you."

"No." Edward growled.

"You've become quite feisty. But let's not get into the logistics of everything. Come with me and I'll leave your little girl out of this."

"NO!"

The man nodded and then reached into his shirt, pulling out a gun. He pointed the gun at Nina and smiled.

" _Now_ will you come with me? I don't mean to brag, but I'm an excellent marksman."

Nina shivered against her father's leg as Edward shivered too. He had to protect Nina… He started to walk forward but Nina grabbed his leg.

"Daddy, no…" she whispered.

Edward put his hand on her head to comfort her as he stepped away from her grip.

"Why?" he asked.

"Why do I want you?" Edward nodded. "My dear boy, you don't realize what you are, do you? You're the missing link, the bridge that closes the gap… You don't realize what else he did to you, do you?" Edward shook his head at the other man laughed. "Well that's okay. I only really want to use you for my own serums' purposes. You're just the _perfect_ guinea pig! Now come along."

Edward walked with him as Nina stood there in confusion and fear. Before the door closed, Edward gave her the signal to use the phone and closed the door.

* * *

Maes was very confused as he looked at the number of cases that were way too similar on his desk.

"You seeing what I'm seeing?" the other officer asked.

"You mean the same type of disappearance? Yeah. What's this got to do with me?"

"First of all, your boy Edward is in there. Second of all, we found one other boy and he was in the same type of condition that Edward was in, minus the pregnant part. But I think that they were trying to do the same thing. He had bruises all over his body and looked like a junkie rather than a kid." He grabbed the folder and opened it up to look for pictures. "See?"

Maes took the picture and looked at the bruises and scratches and pinprick makes all over his torso and arms. He frowned at that when his phone rang.

"Officer Hughes speaking."

"Mr. Maes?"

"Nina? What is it, kid?"

"A… a… a bad man came and took Daddy."

Maes's eyes widened. "What?"

"A man came in and told Daddy if he didn't come he would hurt me. He was gonna do something to him."

Maes pinched the bridge of his nose. "Your father is like a walking victim, you know that, kid?"

"Please save my daddy!"

"Don't worry, Nina. I won't let him get away from me again. You stay in the house and don't you answer the door for anyone, alright? I'm going to be coming there shortly."

"Okay."

She hung up and Maes leaned over, hitting his head against the desk.

"You alright?"

"Jean, how do you keep a kid from getting kidnapped every time you turn around?"

"Edward?"

"That was his daughter, Nina. She said someone came and took him after threatening to hurt her. That boy needs to learn that not all threats are real."

"I dunno. A boy with limited understanding of the world and only knowing how cruelty works would make sense as to his inability to see the bluff."

"What?"

"Look, the kid has had bad luck and has been treated cruelly by most of the world. Knowing the evils, it's easier to give in than to fight it because he's probably aware how evil breeds evil. He just doesn't want to take a chance."

Maes nodded. "I know. It's more or less my question of how do these people keep finding him and taking him?"

"I'll try and look into it if you like? I need to talk to Will and Solaris anyway about some holes in their stories."

"That'd be great, thanks."

Maes grabbed his coat and headed out the door.

* * *

Edward woke up, dazed and confused once more, but something else was odd. He heard the sound of a baby crying. He looked over and saw the man who had come into the house holding a screaming child.

"Naw, how cute you are now that you're out of that stupid ole stomach…"

Edward made a face and looked down at his stomach, finding it flat. The man looked over and sneered at him.

"You're awake, I see. How was your little nap?"

Edward tried to reach out but he was too tired. The man walked up and grinned at him.

"It looks like my serum might actually work. You are the best guinea pig, Edward. I'm so glad Tucker created you."

Edward made a face as the man laughed a little.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you didn't know what he was trying to do?" Edward shook his head slightly. "You are a guinea pig. That's it. That is literally what your job is for us. You see, we needed a human who could be flexible in regards to anything we put to it. We asked Tucker to make us a human guinea pig that was fully functional in all aspects, considering his affinity for bio-alchemy. The problem was that he had to start fresh. He needed something that would most likely bond with the chemicals we may or may not dump into you. He found you, rewrote you, and programmed your body into something malleable… something that would give us the exact results we needed."

The man put the baby somewhere and he came back, looking over Edward a little too close for comfort, his beady eyes dancing across his body from behind those square glasses and that gold tooth a disgusting eyesore as he grinned almost continuously.

"You were Tucker's only true success. You were the one that he was waiting for but just when he was testing you out, you were found. One of your triplets survived, huh?" Edward didn't do anything. "I guess that would be self explanatory wouldn't it? The little girl… oh and that baby I was holding. You see, unlike Will and Solaris, I _know_ the formula Tucker used on you to make you pregnant, but mine's a tweaked version of his." The doctor grabbed his chair and scooted it close to Edward's face. "You'll be so amazed by it, I swear. The half-version worked so well on this baby that I _know_ it'll work well on what I have in store for you with the full version."

Edward's eyes widened as the doctor left the room for a second and he wanted to die. He just wanted a normal life with his kid and his friend. What harm was that? Why was it that life hated him that much that he always ended up somebody's bitch on a lab table? He was human and whether or not he was really intended just to be a guinea pig, he was still human. He had emotions, fears, felt pain… _I just want peace… I just want… I can't take it anymore. I can't take being another crazy scientist's bitch. I can't take having my life dictated for me, my body used however they like, my mind fucked over again… I can't… **I can't**._

* * *

Maes had taken Nina to the police station to give a description of the man who took her father. After the artist drew him out, she nodded and said that that was who they needed to be looking for. Maes had seen that picture before and went to search his files or it. He finally came across the picture and made a face.

"Shit." He said.

"What's up?" Jean asked.

"This is guy." He said, pointing to the photograph. "A disgruntled doctor with an amazing understanding of human anatomy and an access to guess who?" He pulled out a picture of Shou Tucker and flicked it. "Tucker. His name is Dr. Kimyona Kinba. Apparently, he and Tucker worked in the same hospital when he was kicked out due to unethical procedures he would come up with for surgeries. The staff was always a little uneasy around his strange theories but apparently one day he took it too far and the hospital realized he was a whack-job. He did a one-man riot against the hospital for not letting him express his creativity in the scientific arts. A few years later, Tucker was fired for the same reasons but more so for actually attempting the procedure in hospital. They must have hooked up at some time before Edward was captured but I don't think they worked together… Would you mind getting some more information from Tucker on this guy? See what you can find out?"

"Sure thing. Where are you going to go?"

"I'm going to check this guy's house and see if he doesn't have something like what the Hohenheim's had in regards to a secret basement lab or something. It's a start…"

Jean nodded and grabbed his coat to leave. Maes put his face in his hands. He had to wonder how Edward always ended up in these situations.

* * *

"Alright, I'm back!" Dr. Kinba said, coming in with a large syringe.

He saw that Edward was laying on the table but he wasn't doing anything. He frowned and went over to him. He watched him for a moment and then punched him in the stomach to try and make him do something. Edward made no attempt to even grunt. Dr. Kinba snarled and moved Edward's face to look at him and found him staring at nothing, mumbling. He came in closer to see what he was saying.

"Sceneries being blow away seem to whirl in front of me… Even if I get desperate… I won't overlook my target anymore…"

"Are you singing?" he growled, grabbing Edward's head and pulling it to him. Edward didn't answer. "Did you just go brain dead on me?"

He let go of Edward's head and it thunked back to the table. Dr. Kinba breathed in angrily and drummed his fingers on the metal table, trying to figure out what he wanted to do. He watched Edward for a moment and then looked at his syringe. He drummed his fingers again and sighed.

"Waste not, want not."

He plunged the syringe into Edward's stomach and depleted the liquid inside.

"Your body still works even if you've decided to check out of reality with your mind. I'll be back in an hour and I should see some results."

Dr. Kinba left the room and Edward laid there for a moment in the silence of the dark lab, only his muffled singing filling the room when he stopped. His fingers twitched and he turned to look at the ceiling, his eyes turning a piercing red.

 _Let's get started. Ready. Steady. **Go**._

* * *

As Maes was searching the neighborhood with Nina for Dr. Kinba's house, a man came up to them panting like he had run a long way.

"Are you Officer Hughes?" he asked.

"Yes, that's me."

"I'm the owner of the bar over there and I got a call from a colleague of yours. He said he has some information for you."

Maes took Nina's hand and they walked to the bar, where he picked up the waiting receiver.

"Maes speaking."

"This is Colonel Hawkeye."

Maes immediately straightened as if she could see him.

"Yes, pleasure to be speaking with you, sir!"

"Havoc tells me that you're looking into a missing person's case?"

"No, I… remember the little boy that Roy found some years ago?"

"I do."

"He asked me to take care of him and as you know, he disappeared again. But I found him and now he's been kidnapped _again_. I'm just trying to find my son, Colonel."

"Good, that's what I wanted to hear. Since it's a familial thing, I thought I'd give you some intel about his whereabouts. We got an address in the town you're in that may be where he does his experiments. Do you have a way to write this down?"

Maes nodded and motioned for a pen from the barkeep. He wrote the address down and nodded.

"Be extremely careful with this man, Hughes. He's not like the Hohenheim's and he's not like Tucker. Havoc said you spoke to Tucker?"

"I did and yeah, I can see they're different. Even _he_ said that he didn't like working with him because the reasonings behind his ideas were discomforting. Then again, Tucker has been trying to play the saint since we found him…"

"True. Good luck, Lieutenant."

She hung up the phone and Nina looked up at him.

"Is Daddy gonna be okay?"

"I don't know, sweetie. I hope so…" He motioned for the bar tender. "Hey, do you know where this address is?"

"Yeah. About two blocks over at the end of the cul-de-sac. Can't miss it."

They continued down the road to Dr. Kinba's house.

When he got there, he found the neighborhood watching the house in curiosity. He got out, Nina behind him, and went over to a few people.

"What's going on?"

"We heard a loud feral scream coming from in there and then the sound of breaking glass. We're not sure what's going on in there…"

"I'll take a look, ma'am."

A strange scream sounded from the house and Nina turned to it. She shuffled away from Maes and ran to the house. Maes looked down and saw she was running to the house.

"Shit! Nina! Nina!" he ran after her.

* * *

She opened the door to the house and was met with destruction and blood. There was blood everywhere. The sound of a baby crying caught her attention and she climbed over some debris to where the sound was. She walked down the hallway as the strange scream echoed in the house again. She covered her ears and squatted in the floor until the screaming stopped. Once it was done she continued on her way to find where the baby cries were coming from. She opened another door and saw the baby crib and walked slowly to it but stopped when she felt something staring at her. Nina turned and saw that whatever had busted a human shaped hole in the wall and was staring at her from the other room, red eyes glowing in the flickering hall light. At first she was afraid but then she remembered seeing the creature before. She thought it was a dream once before but the creature was very familiar to her.

They stared at each other for a moment when the baby's hiccup caught both of their attention. Nina ignored the monster and went to the crib. A naked baby boy was flailing in the crib, half crying and half just uncomfortable. Nina wished she could get in when the lights flickered a little. She turned and saw the monster was right outside of the hole, staring at her intently.

"Nina, what the hell is- WHAT THE HELL?!" Maes screamed, grabbing for his gun. "Nina, run!"

"No! Don't shoot it!"

"Nina, that's not a play thing!" Maes shot off a round towards the monster. "Get away from here! Go!"

"Stop it!" she yelled, running to Maes and pulling on his arm. "You'll hurt him!"

"Nina, stop wrestling my arm!"

During the altercation, his finger shot off another bullet, hitting the monster. Not hearing the bullet enter something, Maes looked over but the monster wasn't there.

"Where did it go?"

Nina looked behind Maes and gasped, pulling him down to the floor.

"Look out!"

She yanked him down just before the monster grabbed a hold of him and they both rolled on the floor. Maes turned around and pointed his gun at the monster.

"What the hell _is_ that thing?"

"It's Daddy!" Nina yelled, jumping in front of the monster.

"Nina!"

"It's Daddy! Please don't hurt him! You gotta help him!"

Maes watched as the monster just stared, not moving, its shoulder bleeding from where it had been shot.

"Nina, that's not Edward. That _can't_ be Edward."

"I'm afraid it is." Someone said, followed by a wet cough.

Maes looked around and found a beaten up and broken man in the corner of the room looking at them. There was a piece of wood sticking through him and he had coughed up blood but not enough to hide th shine of a gold tooth.

"Dr. Kinba?"

"Those idiots did a lot of experiments on that kid but they didn't realize that they had made a monster in the process." He coughed again. "He snapped on me and turned into that thing, but he's got buns in the oven to worry about now." He cackled even when he was choking on his blood. "My formula still worked."

"Daddy? Daddy, please come home."

Maes looked over as Nina went to the monster- Edward. She touched his bloodied hand and looked up.

"I love you, Daddy. Mr. Maes will keep us safe again. He'll get all the mean people and they won't find you no more. Please come home… I miss you and I'm scared and… and if you don't come home I'll be sad!" She started crying. "I don't want them to hurt you no more! I don't like to see you not like you! You're a good daddy and nice and fun and smart and I love you!"

Maes watched as the monster changed and eventually, returned to Edward. He was completely floored. _Holy shit, what did those people do to him?_

Edward touched Nina's face and wiped her tears.

"No." he said softly.

Nina gasped and wrapped her arms around him.

"Daddy!" She gasped again and pulled back. "Daddy, your belly!"

Edward looked at his distended stomach and sighed.

The man in the corner laughed, blood coming up.

"You'll give birth within the next few hours, Edward. You're the perfect guinea pig… the perfect one…"

Maes was about to get up but Edward walked over and it looked like he had punched the man but when Edward pulled his hand back up, his arm was dripping with blood and there was something in his hand. He looked back at Maes and glared at him, daring him to say anything. Maes kind of wanted to but decided that Edward was owed some sort of payback for the horrible things that had been done to him… still done to him.

Edward threw what he had taken out away from him and went over to his son. He reached in and picked him up, sighing as he looked at the little boy for a moment. He felt his stomach quiver and then gripped the side of the crib as his belly bulged out some more. Maes came over and held out his jacket to Edward.

"Here, wrap him up in this so he doesn't catch cold. Do you know where your clothes are?"

Edward shook his head as he wrapped up the boy in Maes's jacket. He felt another quiver and hissed in pain as his belly stretched again. Maes looked down, seeming to finally notice his stomach.

"Are you _growing_?" Edward nodded with a painful look. "Shit, kid, again?" Edward gave him a glare and he threw his hands up. "Sorry… I mean, you have to admit it's getting kind of annoying?"

Edward gave him a sarcastic look. _Tell me about it. You think it's annoying to **you**?_ he thought. He held the boy out to Maes so that he could get a grip on his stomach as it bulged out again.

"By the rate you're going, you're going to have it soon. Come on. I'll go find your clothes, or some clothes in general, and I'll take you to the hospital. I won't let them hound you, okay? Let's just hope this is the last time."

Edward nodded as he followed Maes, who turned to look over his shoulder.

"And next time, don't answer the door."

Edward just sighed as they looked for his clothing. He was with Maes on the matter and hoped that he didn't have to go through anything of this nature again. He would never hurt a kid but he was so tired of having his body used against him. Pretty soon Maes wouldn't be able to take care of him and his children if he kept ending up pregnant. He frowned at that, wondering if there was something he could do to help Maes out. He'd have to ask him later when he had a pen and paper and wasn't rapidly growing a child.

* * *

 **dagnabbit it looks like he was inflicted again! poor thing just can't seem to catch a break, huh? one more chapter after this one and this story is going to be over! this will all be explained in the next chapter so worry not. but to confirm, there was a hint of this happening in an earlier chapter. the one where he actually faced up against will and in between then and being found he had actually had a transformation off 'screen'.  
**

 **and remember, this was an AU to begin with so riza is the colonel while roy and hughes were lieutenants. also too, they didn't have much in the way of radio contact back then unless you had a telegraphy machine or something but they wouldn't have that in their cars so phone calls it is.**


	12. Chapter 12

**in all honesty, this should have been put up like a while back. i don't know why I didn't do it then. i apologize for the lack of updates. my job is not kind and trying to type has been like trying to climb a mountain. i'm trying to get back into things.**

 **also keep in mind that this isn't the same ed so he doesn't know some things canon ed would know.**

* * *

Maes smiled at Edward as he laid in the hospital bed with one child in each arm. He looked annoyed and miserable at the same time and Maes couldn't help but tease him a bit.

"Well… at least you got those triplets… albeit in a strange way."

Edward gave him a hard glare but looked at the twins in the crook of either arm. With the other boy technically born on the same day, Maes was right and he had had a weird set of triplets. He just hoped it would be the last time he would be pregnant. The nurse came in and grabbed up the two boys to take them back to the examination room. Nina watched her take her brothers away and got up to go to her father.

"Daddy, I have so many brothers now!"

He just smiled, exhausted and mentally drained. The whole transformation thing took a toll on him as well as almost immediately having to have his twins when he got to the hospital. As Maes had promised, no one disturbed them. Edward was sure he had threatened the staff on pain of jail for life if they attracted anyone to the predicament at hand.

"I went ahead and asked them to get a sample of your blood so they could look into what is in your blood." Edward turned his head at that. "I was wondering why that guy said you were the 'perfect guinea pig' and my friend Jean got some information from Will and Solaris about your body. I'm having them run tests."

Edward nodded and yawned, ready to have a nice little nap.

"I'll take Nina home and give you some privacy. Dear god, if you get kidnapped again I'm going to have to put a collar on you that has muy name and address for someone to return you, okay?" Edward gave a smile. "Just try not to get taken again."

"Bad people keep finding him, Mr. Maes." Nina said, defending her father.

"I know, sweetie, it's called a joke. I know Edward can't help it." he said as they walked out.

Edward had to agree that it was starting to get a little comical at how often he was kidnapped. For now, though, Maes had placed two officers outside of his door who would monitor the flow of people. Edward just hoped they were trustworthy officers and not working with someone else. He seemed to run into shady people all the time.

* * *

The next day, the nurse was showing Edward how to properly feed his first son when the doctor came in.

"Hello, Edward, I'm Dr. Marcoh. Your guardian asked me to do a test on your blood to see if we could figure out what's going on here." Edward nodded a little. "I have some interesting news."

He looked at the nurse and she left, leaving Edward to struggle with the baby. He didn't get to take care of Nina when she was born, Will and Solaris doing that until she was old enough to do everything by herself, so this was the first time he was having to do this. The baby made a noise and Edward tried to hold him properly. Dr. Marcoh walked over and moved him around.

"Here, that might help."

Edward nodded and continued feeding the baby as he looked up at Dr. Marcoh in expectation.

"So we found out that your blood is… very interesting. It looks like what Professor Kinya was saying had a deeper meaning than we anticipated. Your cells actually have an alchemical circle on them that allow for things to be done to you without too much consequence." Edward turned his head. "It's a little complicated to explain but I'll try. From what was gathered, your blood cells have an alchemical circle on them that enables you to do certain things when the circle is activated. There's a certain element that has to be in any experiment that will activate the circles on your cells and allows you to follow the chemical makeup of whatever was injected into you."

 **What's an alchemical circle?** Edward asked, holding up his writing pad.

"Alchemy is the study of the elements. We use the circles to change their appearances or purposes and thus are able to advance to a degree. Using alchemy on the body is called bio-alchemy. It enables changes with the body and parts of the body. In your case, the very things that make you up, your cells, have an alchemical circle on it and it can change you in certain ways."

 **Like clay?**

"Kind of but it's on a deeper level than that. It essentially means the same thing but this is on a much larger scale." Edward nodded and the baby let go of the bottle, done with his meal. Edward pulled him up to burp him as he nodded for him to go on. "In this instance, your cells have a special circle that is activated by a certain element and then your body changes however it needs to to work with the serum presented."

Edward wrote on his notepad awkwardly. **So the circles make me do weird stuff I shouldn't be able to do?**

"Essentially, from what Will and Solaris explained, you really are the best guinea pig for anyone in the scientific field of study. Your body will absorb whatever formula is made and can be tested on many different levels. You could be used for medical advancement to find cures for illnesses, you could be used for experimentation of certain things, you could be used for biological research… so much can be gained from you and your body is malleable enough to do it with. Professor Kinya said that you were rewritten, reprogrammed, right? That's what you had written out."

"Uh huh."

"You were kidnapped when you were eight and found when you were eighteen… so that means the mad scientist had a decade to perfect and develop the perfect circle that will do exactly what he wanted. Now, as for the exact element that activates the circles, we're not sure, but what we do know is that depending on the amount of this particular element mixed with other things, it will cause a specialized effect or a general effect. In the case with your pregnancies, it allowed your body to harbor a child with a specialized effect. In the case of Professor Kinya's formula, it allowed you to harbor a child as well as have a rapid pregnancy. This half-serum he had for your first baby seemed to only progress the growth to term… In the case of Will and Solaris, they didn't know what exactly activated the circles and just injected you with whatever they made up. That being said, the creature Maes said you turned into was a result of that serum not having enough of the active ingredient but the other ingredients were there. When Professor Kinba injected you with his serum, he had the right amount but the dormant serum was there also. It would explain your ability to growl and snarl and your dexterity and strength. The process was there but it couldn't go through completely but the second serum was enough to kickstart the monster's serum as well as do it's own magic."

Edward cradled his son in his arms as he went to sleep and made a face.

"Freak." He said softly.

Dr. Marcoh smiled a little. "No, kid, you're not a freak. You've been used and abused by people trying to capitalize on the way your body was made. Admittedly, anyone of science would want to have you as their guinea pig just because you're able to give so many answers in a quick setting and on a human, where the answers would be 75% more accurate than on an animal. I understand the want."

Edward sighed, wishing he wasn't so 'desirable'. They needed to keep their magic shapes to themselves. He didn't want them and he definitely didn't care how valuable he was to the scientific community. He was still Edward, a human.

"I do have some good news though." Edward looked up. "We might be able to get you to speak properly. Although very softly, you'll still be able to have a voice." Edward turned his head in curiosity. "We decided to check on what exactly was causing your voice problems and found that your vocal cords are tight. When you talk, your vocal cords need to be loose to enable all the sounds to be given properly, be able to expand. Yours, though, are tight like violin strings. Probably from the strains of your capture." He nodded. "But, if we get you into speech therapy, they might be able to give you some exercises to stretch those vocal cords out and let you talk a little better."

Edward smiled brightly and Dr. Marcoh did too.

"I thought you might like that. You're a very smart boy, Edward. You taught your daughter how to speak even though you couldn't and taught her how to read and write. I think it's time you get a bit of TLC for you as well."

 **TLC?**

"Tender loving care."

He nodded and yawned, tired again.

"Here, I'll take him back to the nursery. You should be able to get out soon so rest up."

He nodded and fell asleep almost immediately after he left.

* * *

"Okay, I got these onesies and these onesies. I wasn't sure what you wanted." Maes said, holding up a descending hanger of onesies on each hand.

One set was lighter colors and the other was on the darker end of the scale. Edward pointed to the lighter colors and Maes nodded.

"Good, light. I thought so, but you know." He started taking the onesies off the hangers. "By the way, you need to name these kids. It's annoying calling them One, Two, and Three."

"I wanna name one!" Nina said, looking at her brothers over the table. "Daddy, can I name one?"

Edward made a face but if she came up with something halfway decent then maybe…

"Meh." He said. Maes looked over as he held up his notepad. **I already know one name.**

"Oh?"

 **Roy**.

Maes smiled. "I think that's a great name."

"I wanna name this one Wynn." She said, pointing at one of them.

"Wynn?"

"Uh huh!"

Maes looked at Edward. "You like Wynn?"

Edward shrugged. It was better than what he thought she was going to say.

"Wait! I don't want Wynn! I want Way!"

"Ray?"

 **What about Wynn Ray?**

"I like that. So we got Roy and Wynn."

"And Nina!"

"And Nina… hmm. You should name the last one yourself. Nina is named because that's what Roy wanted, Roy is because of Roy, and Wynn is because Nina wanted it. What name would _you_ like?"

"Alf..u."

"Alfu?" Edward shook his head and made a motion for Maes to keep trying. "Al…phones?" Edward nodded. "I kind of like that… Nina, Roy, Wynn, and Al."

Edward nodded but then turned his head a little.

"Meh." Maes looked up. "Name?" he said, pointing to himself.

"Edward…" he said with a funny look.

He shook his head and grabbed his notepad.

 **Edward _?**

Maes looked at him and smiled.

"Hughes, of course. That's my last name."

Edward was surprised at the answer and wanted to cry. In fact, he did, silently. The first person to ever treat him well as Roy but Maes was a close second and now he wanted him to have his last name like he was his own son? He knew Roy would have done the same thing if he had lived, but knowing Maes would do it too just was too much. He wiped his tears and tried not to make any noises.

Nina looked up and saw her dad was crying.

"Mr. Maes, Daddy's crying."

Maes looked up as Edward wiped his nose. He smiled and looked back at Nina.

"He's happy. Those are tears of joy."

Edward held up his notepad. &Even with all these kids? Even though I'm a walking victim? Even… even though I can turn into that thing?&

Maes finished dressing the boys and told Nina to keep an eye on them for a second as he took Edward's hand in his.

"In regards to the kids, yes, of course. Will it be a bit crowded? Yeah… I might have to find a bigger place. As for you being walking victim, I'm hoping that it stops now. I won't let them take you anymore and I'm going to tell them all that if they want to try, they will have to come through me. The monster thing… well… as long as you don't turn into it and destroy the house it's the lesser of the evils I think."

Edward nodded slightly as Maes lifted his head back up to him.

"You come with a lot of baggage, kid, that much is true. But I wouldn't take anything else in the world than for you and your kids to stay with me as if you were my own family. You just know that. Besides, my girlfriend already thinks of you as my kid and that if we get married you would be her stepchild." Edward smiled. "So stop moping, Edward Hughes: we're going home."

Edward grinned and they finished getting the boys ready for leaving.

* * *

As they left the hospital, Edward was overjoyed with knowing he was going to be part of a family. Sure, most of it was his kids, but they would love him and he would love them and Maes would love them all.

"Excuse me, are you Edward?"

Edward stopped and swallowed hard. _Don't turn around. Don't turn around. You might get kidnapped again. Leave it alone…_

"Hey, are you Edward?"

Edward just couldn't help himself and turned slightly as a nurse held out an envelope to him.

"Someone dropped this off at the front desk for you. I forgot to give it to Dr. Marcoh to give to you."

Edward took the envelope gingerly and nodded at her, bustling quickly with Roy in his arms to where Maes was waiting.

"What happened? You scared me for a second." Edward held up the envelope. "Oh, okay. Get in the car before you're spirited away from me. Here, give Roy to me so I can strap him in."

Edward did and got in the front seat of the Model T, opening the letter.

* * *

 _Don't get all high and mighty, Guinea Pig._

 _You may have the military on your side, but your body is a prize to anyone with a dream. We **will** find you. We may not act on it for a long time, but we **will** take you again. You belong to science and you always will._

 _Never forget that, Edward._

 _Never forget what you were made for._

 _Never forget that you will never be safe, you will never be alone, and **you will never be free**._

* * *

Edward licked his lips softly, his breathing getting tight.

"Daddy? What's that?"

Nina pulled him from his fears and he smiled at her.

"Note."

"From who?"

Edward thought for a moment but smiled a little, crumbling it. _I'd take all the chances in heaven that God will allow even if the demons of Hell might take me again. I can't live in constant fear. I have things to protect and people who love me. I won't let this consume me anymore._

"No one."

Nina smiled and Maes got into the driver's seat.

"Alright, let's head home."

Edward nodded. "Mmm." _Home…_

* * *

 **and that's the end of that story. edward finally has a home with people who love him and a brood of kids. poor kid needs some down time. but, will he truly be free of everything? does't matter now, does it?**

 **i thank you for being patient with this story and coming on this journey with me. i'll see you at the next fandom!**


End file.
